Happy Easter!
For Lent this year, I didn't give anything up, but I took on reading the bible every night. Honestly, I googled "40 Day Bible Study" and took up the first one I found. I feel like one big theme stuck out. And by stuck out, I mean smacked me over the head several times.
Love was mentioned constantly. Love was mentioned in almost every verse I read, and it was mentioned almost every Sunday at church. And I was reminded of it a lot during lent (I also got married, so maybe I'm a little biased).
When I met Philip, I was introduced to a very different kind of love. I knew parental love, I knew sibling love, I knew friend love... But I had never known "in love" love. And it's a super awesome kind of love. Supportive, nonjudgmental, silly, serious, constant, challenging, simple, complicated, and freaking awesome. But that's not what this post is about. I gush enough about my husband as it is. It makes me a little nauseated.
The message that has pretty much punched me in the face since I started these 40 days was to love EVERYONE. I always knew that message. You hear it all the time. But have you ever REALLY thought about it? That's not just loving your family, or your pets, or your friends. That's loving your coworkers. That's loving total strangers. That's loving your spouse's family (totally not hard in my situation).
But here's where it gets hard for me. This also includes loving every single person who drives you insane. The driver in front of you on the highway who is driving like an idiot. The obnoxious teenagers in the movie theater. People with VERY different political views. I think it's funny how shocked people are that I donated a kidney to a stranger. But think about it, is it easier to give to someone who you know absolutely nothing about or to someone who you know a little bit about and don't like very much? Obviously the stranger, at least in my opinion.
But Jesus teaches us to love EVERYONE. It was the most important commandment. So why is it the hardest?
I have no answers. But I have been trying. I have a feeling it's going to be a lifelong battle. But, at least I'm trying, right?
I think about this all of the time honestly. I may be extraordinarily mad at someone or really not agree, but my theory of life has always been to love everyone, which doesn't equate liking them. I feel that human compassion towards all doesn't mean I like them much or at all, but I always appreciate that they are human and I will never know their whole story, especially strangers, so although I judge, I honestly know I shouldn't. Sorry for the ramble:) I love and like you!! :)
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