Live to Love part 5
Fighting an uphill battle all the time is exhausting. And, while good things in life DO take time and effort... no father wants his son to struggle through life. Especially not our heavenly Father who so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son so that we might not perish, but instead experience His own eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life of love. Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. He came so that things would get better for us. He came so that we might be in the light, as He is in the light. So that we might understand that we ARE the light as He is the light. He came that we might be able to truly live. Which means truly love. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. And when you live to love--a life of purpose and service--you will love to live. I know that might sound counter-intuitive on the surface. We've been so trained by society that the point of life is "Whoever dies with the most toys wins." But getting is not the point. Because love is giving. You already have everything you could ever need. Given from Father to Son simply and solely because He wanted us to have it. He gave us everything. His Son. His Spirit. His life. His love. And we have that. We don't need it... we have it. What we need to do (in order to experience what we already have) is give it away. Share it. Because it is never about getting. Because love IS giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. And you can't live without loving. Here's my personal defintion of love, from 2 Corinthians 12:15 in the New Living Translation, "I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me." Giving everything we have and everything we are. Gladly. No matter how it is received. And, listen, it's important to use wisdom. To love people the way they need to be loved. But if you give something (or someone) all you've got, that's either enough... or it's not. And either way, you've done all you can do. Shrug your shoulders, be happy with yourself for doing all you could do, and move on. Not everybody will pick up what you're laying down. That's just the way of the world. I know I'm not for everybody, and that's ok. Instead of banging my head against the wall, fighting that uphill battle and never getting anywhere or anything but a headache... I choose to pour myself into the people that I can reach. The people that do receive me. The ones who do pick up what I'm laying down. That's where my efforts are better given. That's where I can do more than just survive. That's where I can thrive. That's where I can build relationships. And life is all about relationships. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Right? And the only way to make good, healthy relationships is to build them on the foundation of love. The one foundation in all of the world that cannot be shaken. The one foundation in all of the world that you CAN build on. When you live to love... you will begin to love to live. Things will line up in the Divine Order that Jesus has already put them in. They will be revealed to you to BE in the Divine Order that Jesus has already put them in. And then you can rest. You can flow. You can live. You can love!