Love Me...

So, I have this insane desire to fix things for people. I have this ever present desire to help in whatever way I can.. which tends towards just let me fix it.. talk to them.. etc..etc.. Pretty much whatever I need to in order to help. But, mostly it just boils down to all I have to offer is loving them regardless of what they set before me... Which sometimes means doing nothing. ugh I hate that.

I enjoy being "everyone's person" regardless of the role they are asking me to play... most times they just need someone to listen. Sometimes, they need to vent and then get input, and other times they just need to know someone finds them and their issues important. Regardless of what the need is I do not mind being the person there, it gives me a chance to practice what I preach. I like that.

I have been thinking about what it means to love someone unconditionally a lot lately. My thought process is this... it is not my place to judge them.. but, judging is not the same as intervening in a very serious or dangerous situation. I think sometimes we get the two confused saying "Well, I don't want to judge, so I won't say anything." When the Bible is pretty clear that sometimes you are required to step in and make a call, it just cautions that whatever standard you do that by is the same standard you will be up against... Which, in my opinion is a great thing, because it means that we will (or should) take pause and double check our motives and the things that we are actually saying. Double checking to make sure that we are doing these things out of true and unwavering love for that person.

However, most of the time loving someone unconditionally simply means taking the bad and mixing it with the good and getting a complete picture of who the person is. More often than not, people have a tendency to confuse the bad or the insecurities that someone has as the entire person, when in reality it is like the bad part of a fruit that you just have to cut out... and the rest is perfect and beautiful.

Even when things are annoying, obnoxious, hard to handle, hurtful, whatever... there are always things that I can see in that person that allow me to desire to be friends with them. Just because they are beaten and broken, or mess up does not mean that suddenly they have made the "do not be friends" list... it simply means a re-focus, forgiveness, whatever...

Jesus told me (and you) to love people.. Christians and non-Christians.. it does not really matter, everyone has been hurt by Christians, non-Christians, guys, girls... whoever... So, whenever I can take a moment to care about someone, regardless of something they say or do either directed at me or at someone else, then I take that moment (or try.. cause sometimes I simply fail.)... Now, please do not mistake loving them for accepting and being ok with any behavior they choose to exhibit.. Because, that is simply not the case, love does not mean blindly condoning sin, quite the opposite in fact... But, that is another topic for another day :)