I have been led into doing more in depth studies on the eStudy blog taking me three and a half hours (on average) to write. I have been involved with several weddings and other church matters. Not writing the OnLoving has troubled me a lot because it was the driving force of this website for me. I wrote to share how I have been moved to love people around me and encourage others to grow in the same desire. I want to be a positive in other people's lives not a negative and hope to help others want to do the same.
Recently, there have been a couple difficult people in my life. They have been difficult and not particularily pleasant. It would be easy to fall in line with those people who don't make an effort to be kind and loving toward them, but no matter how they treated me, I kept on trying to love them back.
I think of God who is holy and who hates sin and ponder the thought that no matter how ugly I have been or am, He never stops loving me, He never gives up on me. That thought helps me keep on trying to love when my flesh wants to give up. Several months of determined effort have led to a change in how we relate to each other. Now, we greet each other with smiles and genuine expressions of like for each other. It makes me smile when I think of how God has worked in me and these two people. God principles and the examples of how God loves us truly does work. Instead of walking into a room and feeling defensive and awkward because of them, I now walk into the room and feel happy to see them. I also know that the change in how we see and relate to each other will only grow into something better. Going back a couple of years to when God overwhelmed me with thoughts on His love for us, I was reminded of the reason for this site. We love because He first loved us, and that is reason enough to never give up when it comes to loving others.
I started writing this blog with thoughts about why I haven't done the OnLoving blog as often. I also noticed that lately, topics or ideas to write on have been distant and scattered. Over the last couple years, ideas to write on came on strong and often. Sometimes I had to make a list of blog ideas on loving. Lately, when I take a minute to contemplate what to write on, nothing comes to my mind.
I have realized I have let myself become too busy. I have allowed , even though it is a good thing, church work to take precedence in my life. My busyness blocks out what had previously been the highest priority in my day. My normal daily mindset of thinking about how I can be more loving and share that with others has been refocused on a to do list. I spend most days feeling overwhelmed by the things that need my attention and what doesn't get done is the thing I am most passionate about - loving and sharing the thoughts God puts on my heart.
I have traded the passion God placed on my heart for stuff that has to get done. The "stuff" although good stuff, is a bad trade because it has taken my focus off what I am supposed to be doing.
What I am trying to say is that, I have allowed myself to be pushed off course by things that are not bad, but by things that are not what I believe are not my particular mission and focus.
I have recently had one of the life altering, love experiences with two people and was again alerted to the power of love. I was again alerted to where my focus should be and where my efforts should be. All the things on my list will get done even if I place them lower on my list of priorities.
I think many of us don't think about how we love others because we don't make it the focus of our day. We allow all the stuff of life like errands, chores, work, TV, and so on to captivate our thoughts, just as I have lately. When that happens our mind is easily consumed with thoughts, that, in all truth, don't matter nearly as much. How we love our spouses, kids, family, neighbors, and coworkers is far more important than last night's sports scores or who won the award for best something or another.
Does it really matter if we don't get the chores done or miss the big game? How does missing any of that impact the world around us? It makes ZERO impact. On the other hand, how does not taking the time to love our kids or spouse, family or friends impact our world? It makes a SUPER HUGE impact! Just think of how much impact it would make on your life if you were the one being loved or not being loved. If you were the one wanting and waiting to be loved by the person who is important to you and they spent all their time watching the big game or music awards and neglected loving you, would that matter to you? Well, then I guess it would matter to them if you were the one who was too busy to love them.
My point is that, even though we spend much of our lives doing things that are good, we trade what is way more important for those things. It is important to go to work. It is important to keep the house clean and in order. However, please consider this, if the one you love was to meet the end of their days, would they be comforted by the fact that the bills were paid and the house was clean or by the fact that you loved them with all you had.
We all have only one shot at this. There are no re-dos. We have the opportunity to be ambassadors of love and to deeply love those God has placed in our lives. We need to stay focused on what is the most important thing we can do.
In the midst of a religion full of rules and traditions like sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jesus was asked what the most important law was. His answer was that the most important law is that we love God with all we are and we love our neighbor as ourselves. He made no mention of keeping the temple clean. He made no mention that we go to work every day. In fact, He made no mention of any of the things we often make more important than loving.
Trading any of the things we think of as the priorities of life for the opportunity to love those around us is a bad trade. As I shared with my story about those two people, loving matters. Loving changes things. Loving is the greatest command given to us by God Himself.
So just go out there and love, because He first loved us.