Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Psalm 3:5
So, I took the concept of loving people, especially those who are not particularly interested in me or my love, with an eternal perspective to heart and tried to put it into practice. And it worked...for about five minutes! That's about how long it took for those old feelings of hurt and bitterness to sneak back up to the surface. Oh, I would refocus on God and His love for them only to find myself saying, "Hey, what about me?"
"What about you, My daughter?"
"I want to be loved too. I want love to be safe."
"I do love you. You are safe with Me"
"I know."
"Do you really? Do you value My love? Do you trust My love?"
"Well...yes, of course I do."
"Then you are safe. Now I'm asking you to live and love like you believe it."
Ouch! Loving the hard to love is more about me and God than it is the person I'm trying to love. I know that I can trust Him and His love for me. He saw me through the loss of my precious baby, Peanut, and even turned my tragedy into triumph. And that's just one example of His tender love for me. He and I have history! God has proven to me that I can trust Him. Ok, I'll try again and again. "But God, why is it so hard? Shouldn't loving others be easier? Why does it sometimes feel like...well, suffering?"
"Unfortunately, my dear one, that is the only way you will learn obedience, not just in loving others but, in everything you do. And My Son modeled that for you. Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Hebrews 5:8"
So, loving others is really about trusting and obeying You. "Father, Author of my faith, please help me to trust you more."
