Love is Not Always Given

I decided to cut the road trip story short. Not much happened the rest of the trip except countless hours of driving, a sketchy hotel in Colorado, and the Arches National Park. Now I could probably pull some abstract idea of what there was to learn from a giant arch looming over us, and I could probably write a funny story of all that happened during the boring drive home, and to be honest, I had already done that and was ready to write that part of the trip, but I decided this is an exponentially more applicable topic right now, especially in my own heart.

What do you do when someone wrongs you? or even worse, what so you do when you wrong someone else? Or maybe a mixture of the two? We all make stupid choices in the life, in the words we speak, in the actions we live out. People will make stupid, unwise, painful choices to you that will either directly or inadvertently hurt you, just as at some point, you will do the same thing back to people. It's a universal struggle to make right choices ALL the time. When things begin to turn sour, it starts to get very hard and you are confronted with many other challenges. Is it right to point out when someone wrongs you, even if they didn't intend it that way or didn't realize it? What is someone comes to you with a list of wrongs, maybe even a list that you don't agree was wrong? Is it alright to talk to others about struggles you are having with others? and if you do, what light should you shed on it, Reality? Humility (only your wrongs)? Pride (only their wrongs)? And most importantly, how are these situations resolved? These are all tough questions and even tougher to put to action. We all too often place selfishness in front of humility, anger in front of forgiveness, pride in front of God.

I've noticed lately that a lot of people, including me, do not know the answers to these questions, or don't see how to take action. When someone wrongs us, we all too often lose sight of the blood of Jesus Christ. That person attacked me, they hurt me, they made me lose some of my blood! YEAH BUT, you have attacked Jesus, you have hurt Him, You made Him lose His blood. Every time I do something wrong, either to someone else or to myself, I am sinning against God as well. And YET, God - forgave - us. While we were yet sinning, while we didn't think we needed forgiveness, He forgave me of all my sins. FORGIVENESS is the answer. I heard a song a few days back and last night I played it all night as I was sleeping, hoping it would be beaten into my brain while I slept. These are the lyrics to the chorus:

Seven times Seventy times
I'll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way
Seven times Seventy times
There's healing in the air tonight
I'm reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around

This is a call to step up! To everyone! Whether you are a freshmen in high school, a staff for some organization, or Billy Graham, you are not above humility and forgiveness. You don't out grow you're need to be humble and forgive. We all need to step up. What is it about ourselves that we let pride get in the way all too often? I know there is nothing in myself that I can see that warrants the all too frequent pride I let get in the way. I am nothing. Maybe the more we see that, the easier it would be to talk to each other, to forgive one another, to admit wrongs to one another. All too often I see a shallowness in many of the friendships I see. I walk around campus, I look at my friendships, I look at what's missing, and I see no depth. And there is no depth because there is no forgiveness. Forgiveness overcomes pride, which in turns leads to trust, which in turns leads to depth and ultimately closer relationships, relationships that are enticing to those that see them, that draw others in, not push them out.

If you are having trouble forgiving someone, try seeing it from their perspective. I know all too often, all I recognize is what I saw or felt or the reason why that hurt me. I fail to recognize what they saw or felt or the personal reason to why it hurt them. or if that doesn't work, try seeing it from God's perspective. That's a for sure winning tactic.

So will you step up with me? Will you answer this call? We all need to. All too often when Love is not given, we decide to not give love in return. I say, when love is not always given, to give it back anyway.

There is never a time love shouldn't be given