I felt so hurt hearing this from the mother of one of my kid’s friends on Saturday. Ouch! Who wouldn’t want their child to be friends with my wonderful child? I wanted to say something like, “Bruh! It ain’t all that! Don’t you think there is enough hatred in the world?” But, hey, everyone is different, and we all see things from a different perspective. However, I used it as an experience to share with my children what God has been TRYING to teach me about love:
“Let us be very sincere in our dealings with each other and have the courage to accept each other as we are. Do not be surprised at or become occupied with each other’s failure; rather see and find the good in each other, for each one of is created in the image of God.” – Mother Teresa
“Dear Human: You’ve got it all wrong. You didn’t come here to master unconditional love. That is where you came from and where you’ll return. You came here to learn personal love. Universal love. MESSY love. Sweaty love. Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love. Infused with divinity.”
If you’re looking for perfect relationships, you can FORGET ABOUT IT – they are pretty complicated and can get pretty messy. I feel like God’s guinea pig in that He throws me in these challenging situations that He wants me to respond to from His GOD IS LOVE perspective. THIS HAS NOT BEEN EASY, but I feel this is where He wants us all going the extra mile in love, forgiveness, humility, faithfulness, loyalty, and kindness.
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16
As a family, we’re staying on the high road with God. That is what I teach my kids. We’re relying on the love God has for us that we keep asking, ‘God, what would make You happy here?’ When others go low, we can go high knowing that everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else. Our eyes are on the prize and the beautiful life God had planned out for us before we were even born.
God, what should I do here? The priority is to skillfully maneuver through every moment of life, leaning on God’s wisdom and direction. And learning His voice and being obedient to Him because this is how He guides us on the best paths with Him. Even with my sickness lately, I’m thanking Him. He truly knows the experiences we need to become our best selves. He is a specialist in turning all our bad into such good when we trust Him to guide us with His wisdom.
But back to this messy love. It takes a lot of ignoring and pretending you don’t see what you see, but you do it for God. He told me the other day in an appointment with Him that not everything is a lesson to be learned. Sometimes it’s just an act of love. To forgive, overlook, ignore, focusing on the good in others and not their failings is an act of love, all for the glory of God.
