“I love you,” he said.
Her smile widened revealing a sparkling row of perfect teeth.
"I love you too," she replied.
Yes, no doubt about it, the brother was in love.
Oh... if only life was as sweet and simple as that. You know, me loving you and you loving me and all that jazz. Life would've been all dandy innit? We'd all join hands and sing Bob Marley's "One Love" whilst sipping some tea.
Sadly life ain't like that. Personally I've met a few people in life who I just couldn’t stand. Yeah yeah, don't judge me, at least I'm honest. And ... Yes I’m a Christian but these people just got on my nerves because of things they did or said or maybe what they didn't do or say. So after a while I decided they didn’t deserve an ounce of my time.
And God said, "Uh uh girl, you have to fix that." I didn’t want to be nice to them. I tell you nothing within me wanted to have anything to do with them. I wanted to talk about them and what they had done. And believe me they had done me wrong. In all fairness I was justified to feel the way I did.
But God said that's not how things work. If you only love those who are nice to you and lovable, then what credit should go to you? You’ve done what any person on the street can do. What a Christian needs to do is to go the extra mile and love those that are unlovable. The ones that smile at you when you know they’ve been talking about you behind your back. The ones that invite all your friends to their Christmas party and conveniently “forget” to invite you.
Loving friends and family is easy (for most people anyway) but loving your neighbour or enemy is hard coz they may be the kind of people you feel like strangling half of the time. I think we have all met someone who really tries all our patience, the kind of person that makes you want to go on a spiritual holiday and give them a slap.
People are sometimes hard to love especially when is situations like :
Talking about you behind your back,
Spreading lies about you,
Walking past and ignoring you as if they didn't see you,
People who use you, you know the kind that don't call you or ignore you until they need something from you and then they're all smiles or start calling you
Impossible and inconsiderate work colleagues and flatmates,
Saying one thing and doing another, people who break promises
Insincere smiles and pretenders
Is there someone who you keep doing something for but they just don’t seem to appreciate it or do anything in return for you. Every time you see them you feel like singing Janet Jackson’s “What have you done for me lately?” I am sure most of us have been there at some point in time.
The list is endless...I'm sure you have some of your own...
Where are all my married peeps at? Some of you might relate to something similar in your marriages ...Has your spouse ever annoyed you so much that you wanted to ignore them for the rest of eternity? How could they do that to you? You told yourself that you were not going to let them off so easily yet somehow you found yourself being nice to them again the next day...well I guess that’s love.
However bad people may be towards you, the bible says we should walk in love. And boy is that hard or is that hard.
What really is love anyway?
What really is love anyway?
When the French say “Je Taime,” it is just as heartfelt as when the Tswanas' say “Ke a go rata.”
Love, love, love!
What really is this contagious phenomenon?
For centuries the word has been tossed about, sometimes almost carelessly without any real thought as to it's real meaning or significance. Is it the strong feeling you experience when you see your beloved? Or is it the fluttering feeling of butterflies in your stomach every time you think of them? Or the tingling sensation that radiates through your body when you hear their voice? It seems love means different things to different people at different times.
One dictionary defines it as “a profoundly tender and passionate affection for another person.”
Wow! That's deep.
The bible calls it the “affectionate concern for the well-being of others.”
I was asking God how do we walk in love...What are we supposed to be doing?
These are some of the things I received...
1 It means doing things for others without expecting anything in return.
2 Being patient with people when they act in unbecoming ways, remember not everyone is as spiritually grown up as the next person.
3 Not taking things personally. When someone walks past you pretending they didn't see you and doesn't say hi, smile at them and say hi to them instead.
4 Forgiving those who do wrong to you. Yes, even that girl in church who swiped the guy you'd just told her you were interested in.
5 Pray for those who hurt you. Even Jesus prayed and asked God to forgive those who crucified Him for they knew not what they did.
As we go through life we will meet those that are made from "sugar and spice and all that's nice"...and then there will be those that are made from all the other stuff... you know snails and puppy dogs tails (I'm sure you know the nursery rhyme). When we meet those kind of people I pray that God will give us the grace to turn the other cheek and treat them with the uttermost love. As Obama said in '08 "Yes we can!"
5 Pray for those who hurt you. Even Jesus prayed and asked God to forgive those who crucified Him for they knew not what they did.
As we go through life we will meet those that are made from "sugar and spice and all that's nice"...and then there will be those that are made from all the other stuff... you know snails and puppy dogs tails (I'm sure you know the nursery rhyme). When we meet those kind of people I pray that God will give us the grace to turn the other cheek and treat them with the uttermost love. As Obama said in '08 "Yes we can!"
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