Puddle Jumper part 3
When we make our love towards other people dependent upon how they treat us... we are giving up all of our power. We are becoming reactive, instead of proactive. And, let me just say this: God is all-powerful, right? Which means love is all-powerful. Which doesn't mean MOST powerful. It means ALL of the power. It means nothing else HAS any power. Unless we give our power away. Unless we stop being who we are and let something (or someone) dictate to us who we should be. And that's never a good idea. When you know who you are, you can be who you are in every circumstance and situation. When you know what is inside you, you can let it out no matter what. Can... and should. Because the world needs what you have. My main theme in this Rant series has been debunking the idea of "Don't cross oceans for people who wouldn't jump over a puddle for you." And tonight I want to focus on something that I think is important. Why. Why won't that person jump over a puddle for you? And, honestly, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. Because it's not about them. And it's not about you. It's about God. It's about love. But let's just think about it for a minute. To me, it comes down to this: You can't give what you don't have. How could you? You don't have it. So if someone "won't" do something... it's probably because they can't. Let me say this another way: The people who are the hardest to love... are the people who need love the most. Because they aren't getting it. Because they're hard to love. It's a self-defeating pattern. It's a slippery slope that once you get one it, it's so hard to get off. Things snowball. Good things AND bad things. You've probably had days where just one thing goes wrong after another. And the more things go wrong, the harder it is to deal with them. On the flip side, sometimes a small win can be the foundation that builds and builds into greater and greater successes. Here's what I'm trying to say: If you're reacting to someone else... you're not being YOU. If you're just trying to give them back what they've given you... you're not breaking the cycle. You're not helping. Not helping them, or yourself. The only way to get from one tree (the tree of death, which is the tree of knowledge of good and evil) to the other (the Tree of Life which is Jesus, which is love) is to stop trying so hard and accept the glorious truth that Jesus cursed the fig tree (again, the tree of death, the tree of knowledge of good and evil) because it couldn't bear any fruit. Stop trying so hard. Stop trying so hard to be someone you're not in order to get something you think you haven't got. Life is about living. Embracing your true self... and embracing others. Loving people no matter what. Turning the other cheek. Going the extra mile. Not worrying about whether they have "earned" or "deserve" your love. We didn't earn God's love. And, if it's about our actions, we proabably don't deserve it. But love isn't about what you do. It's about who you are. And who God is. He loves us. No matter what. All of the time. Which means we can love Him back. By loving each other. No matter what. All of the time!