Schism part 5
"Love is control. I'll die if I let go." Song lyrics. But also how a large majority of people seem to feel. "If you loved me you would do A, B, and C." We use "love" as manipulation. Control. "I'm doing this because I love you." Are you? Or are you trying to get what you want? That's not love. Ever. Love is NEVER about getting. Because love IS giving. If you're saying "I love you" to someone in order to get something from them... that's not love. If you're saying "I love you" to someone for ANY reason other than because you want them to know that you love them... its not love. Saying it so someone will say it back is not love. That's fear. And there is no fear in love. I think, in large part, the schism we face in our own minds is love on one side and fear on the other. We're literally afraid that we'll die if we let go of that control. If we can't make things be how we want them to be... we'll die. But here's the thing: People are who they are. People do what they do. And, realistically, people do what they do in order to get what they want. That's a very basic level understanding. And you can call it self preservation--a baby crying because he needs to eat, or needs a diaper, or whatever, and has no other way to communicate and no way to take care of himself. But there comes a time when we need to grow up and put away childish things. I know its so hard to see past ourselves. I talk to people at work and no matter what the subject is, it always comes back around to whatever they're thinking about... about themselves. But when you begin to understand, and experience, the love of God--letting Him love you and loving others with that same love... receiving and releasing the love of God--then we start to shift from being self-centered to being Christ-centered. Or people-centered. We start to see past ourselves. Esteem others higher than ourselves. See the needs in others, and meet those needs. And that's when life gets exciting. That's when things start to get real. Shared experiences are so much more powerful than individual experiences. When you see a great movie... that's cool. When you see a great movie with someone who appreciates it the way you do? That's epic. But we're afraid to put ourselves out there. We're pulled in two separate directions. "Head vs heart" some call it. Fear vs love. Trying to do what you want but ending up doing what you don't want. That constant battle and struggle. But, again, there is no fear in love. We don't have to battle that schism. We don't have to let our emotions get the best of us. We can simply fill ourselves to overflowing with the love that God has already filled us with. We CAN let go. Let go and let God, right? Let people be who they are, and love them for who they are, without letting them use and abuse us. The only way two people can really line up is if they both line up with Jesus--with love. Because then they will automatically line up with each other. The only a man can be stable in all his ways is to be singleminded. To let love control him, instead of trying to control others with "love." Love is not control. Love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are, simply because someone else needs it!