Strength part 5
You don't have to be a bully to prove that you're strong. In fact, I think bullies are some of the weakest people around. Because its easy to pick on people. Its easy to kick people when they're down. To attack things you don't agree with. None of that takes strength. But when you're ok with someone even when they don't agree with you--even when they do things that make you angry--THAT'S real strength. Strength of character. Inner strength. Knowing who you are and being who you are. And letting people be who THEY are. Being there for people even when its not convenient, or easy. I'm telling you right now--and I've said this many times before--the hardest people to love are the people who need love the most. Because they aren't getting it anywhere else. They need someone who is strong enough to NOT demand his own way, but give them exactly what they need. Strength isn't about over powering people. It is about protecting people. Not kicking people when they're down, but lifting them up when they fall. Strength is not selfish. Strength is selfless. Because love is all powerful. Like the Incredible Hulk, love is the strongest one there is. Love can endure anything. Forgive anything. Stand up to anything without forcing itself (Himself) on anybody. When I say you should let people be who they are, I'm NOT saying you have to participate. I go by the tummy test. If something--or the THOUGHT of something--makes my tummy hurt, I'm probably not goint to do it. Another way to say that is, "Trust your gut." And another way is, "Follow your heart." If love never fails (and that is 100% true. Love NEVER fails) then following your heart will never lead you wrong. But you need to make sure you're actually listening to that still, small voice deep inside. Because following your heart is not about trying to get what you want. Love is not about getting... because love IS giving. We already have what we need. Jesus gave it to us when He gave HIMSELF to us. And here's where I want to end this Rant series: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). His strength is made perfect in weakness. When we can't, that's when He will. When we stop trying, and start resting, that's when God has the room, and the opportunity, to move in us, and through us, and as us. What I'm trying to say is: Our strength is HIS strength. We don't have to do it alone. Because we are NOT alone. We live in Him and He lives in us. That's that inner man. The hidden man of the heart. The true you. Not the surface stuff. Not the mistakes you've made (or the mistakes you're going to make). Its Jesus. The Word (LOVE) made flesh. GOD in the flesh. Love in a body. So we don't have to try to be someone we're not. We don't have to pretend to be strong. Or make someone else look small so we can look big and mighty. We can glory in our infirmities. We can embrace our whole selves. The good, bad, and ugly. All of the stuff that makes us... us. It takes a lot of strength to ignore the world screaming at you, telling you who you're supposed to be. But that still, small voice GIVES us strength by telling us who we already are. Who we REALLY are. Who we have always been. God in the flesh. Love in a body. Jesus. The strongest One there is!