Love

1 John 4:7-8   Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has beenborn of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Love. It’s been a recurring theme in my Bible study over the past few months. Whenever something shows up repeatedly but totally unplanned in my study time, I know God is preparing me for something. Sure enough, over the past couple of months, multiple challenges to my faith and my peace have come crashing into my life like a bull in a china shop! Many times I’ve felt like I was in the midst of a great battle dodging arrows coming from all around me (sometimes laser beams, depending on how recently I’d watched some sci-fi). In the midst of it all, there was a constant reminder that I’m to love people, and that I actually do love people! That no matter what’s tossed at me (or lobbed like a grenade!), I’m to rise above that hate and respond with love.

It’s sometimes, okay, OFTEN times, difficult to respond to hate with love (and let’s face it, we Christians are HATED). It’s hard to turn the other cheek, to utter a word of encouragement to someone who’s constantly trying to tear you down, to lend a helping hand to one who tries to sabotage you. It’s just plain hard to do! But that’s why it’s important! We are strengthened not by those things in life that come easily to us, but by those things that cause us to struggle, fight, and work hard. That’s how we grow.

So, what am I doing with all of these recent challenges and frustrations? I’m loving my way through it because God has given me the strength to do it! If the Creator of the universe, the Father of all, can love me-a strong-willed (that’s a nice way of saying stubborn), opinionated, mouthy girl with a bit of a temper who fails Him every single day, multiple times a day, then surely I can love that annoying and somewhat hostile classmate, coworker, family member, etc.