Love Is part 5
It's not about you. I mean, listen, I know that we are each the main character in our own story. I get that. But even though I always say, facetiously, "It's your world and we're just living in it," your story is about more than just you. Think about it. If love is giving, and you can't give without someone to give to, then you can't do it alone. You can't do it by yourself. Love is about connection. Relationship. And, as we know, "...the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone..." (Genesis 2:18). We're all in this together. And we need to understand what that means. It means we need each other. It means you can't love people... without people. I Rant so much about esteeming others higher than ourselves. Putting others first. Laying your life down for your friends--and understanding that your "enemies" are just friends that don't know it yet. Remember the old quote? I think it was Abraham Lincoln. "I destroy my enemies by making them my friends." If you're just trying to always get, get, get from people... that's not a way to build relationship. That's not love. Love is never about getting. Love does not demand its (HIS) own way. Love IS giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Laying your life down. And I'm telling you, when the Bible says it is more blessed to give than to receive... it really is more blessed to give than to receive. Some of the happiest times in my life are when I was able to make someone else happy. To give something that they thought they couldn't have. That's the good stuff. That's the real stuff. And I appreciate all the things I've been given. Don't get me wrong. The people in my life who have helped me and supported me along the way... priceless. And think about this: I'm part of THEIR story in which, maybe they feel the same way about helping me that I feel about helping those that I've been able to help. We're all connected. We're all in this together. History is HIS story. And we are all part of His body. Now, let me say this: Some parts of the body don't touch. Your elbow and your nose don't touch each other. That's ok. Because the elbow helps the arm bend when it needs to scratch your nose. Some people are not destined to be in your inner circle. That's ok. I know I'm not for everybody. Nobody is. But I also know that there are people that I am in a unique position to be able to reach in a way that maybe no one else can. So do what you can, and don't worry about what you can't. Stay in your lane. Give it all you've got, and then let that be enough. It either is, or it isn't. And either way, all you've got... is all you've got. So to end this Rant series I just want to say: Love is giving. And you can't give without something to give. And someone to give it to. Knowing what you've got, and using what you've got (in a positive, unselfish way) in order to build relationships is what life is all about. Seeing a need and meeting it. Receiving and releasing the gift of God that we've already been given. The gift of God that IS God. The God who is love. He loves us, we ought to love Him back by loving each other. Because it's not just about you. It's about US.