Sometimes I wonder what we think we are really here for.  If it is not to give others the care and love that they deserve, what else is there?  We are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.  In the love that we have for God, and the love that He pours into us everyday, it is easy to love others.  Loving another human being is not a burden or a “job”, it is something we should want to do because we recognize the ways that God loves us.  God loves us despite our imperfections, our hurts and the things we’ve done to ourselves and other people.  Forgiveness is the most freeing gift we can ever be given.  And everyone needs it.

Now I do want to set one thing straight though.. So many people that I have talked to think that Christians view non-Christians as lost souls who just do everything wrong and and won’t ever be right until they confess that they are sinners.  Now that just sounds demeaning (in my opinion).  Yes, we all need forgiveness, unless you think you’re perfect and i’m pretty sure nobody would raise their hand and say that they were.  We need God’s forgiveness for many reasons.  For one, not to go crazy.  Human beings strive for perfection, whether we think we do or not.  We want to be liked, we want to be loved, we want to be taken seriously, we want to be respected, we want to do what we enjoy and enjoy doing what we do.  Who doesn’t?  But to be honest, do we get what we want in these ways all the time?  I know that I don’t.  I do know that if I didn’t have God, I would be so hung up on trying to find these things (and failing) that I would start to wonder what life is all about.  You have to realize that as much as you deserve these things and as much as you strive to find them and think that you are doing all that you can to achieve them, you will fail.  It’s just as simple as that.  I am not at ll trying to be pessimistic, in fact I am trying to show you the complete opposite.  God knew we were gonna fail.  He knows we need Him.  Despite what we think we need in life, what we think will make us happy, God knows a heck of a lot better than we do.  And He totally shows us.  We just have to learn how to see Him and learn how to really listen!

So, we all know that our deepest desire is to be loved and accepted.  That’s what God wants for us too.  He does love and accept us, not matter what.  But it is still our duty to love and accept other people; to care for them despite what we think.  If someone is nasty to me, I don’t walk away, I have learned to see their hurt and it only draws me closer.  People need love and sometimes they don’t realize how they need it.  It’s up to us to love them the way that they need to be loved (And I don’t mean be all mushy).  I mean really listen to them and give them what they need (not want) but need.  So many people just need to be listened to.  That’s a way to love them.  Don’t you want to be listened to?

I get frustrated when this care and love are not returned, which in many cases it’s not.  But you know, that’s okay.  I know God provides more than enough love for me (and all people) and I can rest in that.  I can stop fighting human nature and just let God love me.  He calls me to love other people.  He never said it would be easy.  He said there would be suffering involved.  But through the suffering, there is joy.  The joy in giving of yourself to help someone else see the world in a different light, in God’s light.