Learnin' To Love

Hey there everyone. I've gotta keep this quick, because I have to wake up at 4:00 tomorow morning!!! I just wanted to say something really quick about today's adventures.

Today's subject is love. We studied it when Gene did devotions tonight. The question was "How are you going to take the love that you have learned here back to your town, and apply it to your everyday life?" And we aren't talking about the sappy love that we all cry over in romance novels and chick flicks. It's kind of hard to explain this type of love to those that haven't experienced it in a way that I have here in Africa. But, I will try my best. It's the kind of love that you can find in one of the best hugs you have ever recieved from woman excited beyond words. It's when a little girl comes racing up to you, just so that she can hold your hand. It's why a single parent living with AIDS wakes up every morning to feed their kids, so that the children will live for one more day than they did yesterday. It's why widows would give an entire GFR team several weeks worth of work in the form of baskets, just to thank them for visiting their village where one woman and her children are sponsored. These people are so easy to love. They want my love. They NEED my love. And they want and need to share theirs with me. It is a sort of love that I have found only here in Africa. Almost like something that we Americans used to have at one time, but lost it somewhere along the road. That is the type of love that we are called by God to give to everyone.

1 John 3:18-20 (The Message)

My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is
the only way we'll know we're living truly, living God's reality. It's also the way
to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For
God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do
ourselves.

This verse kind of hits two points at once. For the first part, it means that when we put our words into actions, then they become true and real. For example: Pertend that you told all of your friends that Coke is your most favorite drink in the whole entire world. However, none of them ever saw you drink Coke, and you had a Pepsi in your hand all the time. Would they believe that Coke was your favoritest drink in the world because you said so, or would they believe that Pepsi was your favoritest drink in the world because you constantly had one glued to your hand? The same is true with loving. Are you going to talk, or are you going to love?

The second part says that When we let true love live through us, it pushes away the negative thoughts that can make us unable to live in the way that God wants us to. When we can't even love ourselves, how will we ever be able to love on anyone else?

Well, now that I've taken forever to explain the type of love I have gave and been given for the past week and a half, I'd like to share with you what my answer was to the question that Gene asked us. It took me a while for me to come up with it because it is a really tough question!
It is so easy to give my love to the people here because they are willing to accept and reciprocate it. Back home, there are lots of people that are very difficult to love. Whether it be the stinky kid in the hallway or the one the looks down their nose at everyone, we are called to love them. Desirable or not. What I decided was that it has to be a continuous effort each day to reach out and care for those people. I am going to have to ask God to teach me how to love those specific people. I'll also have to ask for the patience to deal with them!!! I don't think that it will be a thing easily forgotten because of love that has been given to me. Here in Africa.