Loving the Unlovable

I've recently become a firm believer in the idea that my love for others is directly connected to the way I receive God's love for myself. I struggle to unconditionally love because I struggle to accept God's unconditional love for myself. And it's been said that it's hard to love unlovable people, but I'm beginning to realize that it's not as nearly as hard as it is to do the opposite. Our arms grow tired from all the walls we've built, our sarcastic comments are becoming heavy as the bitterness piles on, and our unrelenting tendency to dwell on others' faults slowly sucks the life out of us. We refuse to see the good because we become too boggled down by the bad. I've been too guilty of these things.

I've seen a lot of people not in the their best state. I've been soaked in the tears of friends who are erupting with emotions, I've held towels to stop the blood flow over the wounds teens have inflicted as a coping skill, I've been yelled at by misinformed people, I've been abused and I've been called everything single bad word in one conversation. I've many reasons to call it quits on people. As much as I want to, I cannot, because God has every reason in the book to call it quits on me. I've messed up and I have many faults. Every day God still loves me. God picks me up after every stumble. And being loved by such a big God in such a big way, gives me no right to play favorites with others.

May we learn to love people despite their faults. May we see the great qualities people have to offer in lieu of honing in on all the bad. If there is no hope for our neighbors that have wronged us, then there is no hope for us, who have wronged others. There is always hope. People can always change. And even if they don't, may we learn to accept God's unconditional love for us so that loving others is just an over flow from that well. Life on earth is way too short to be bogged down by nit picking others. It's too tiring, too burdensome. It is much better to allow the walls we've built to fall and to allow the bitterness to subside. It is much easier to allow ourselves to be immersed in God's unrestricted love. For when we accept God's love for us, our hearts become way too full to exclude others.