Praying for Love

I choose love…

No occasion justifies hatred;

no injustice warrants bitterness.

I choose love.

Today I will love God

and what God loves.

 

I'm spending a year working on the Fruit of the Spirit.  I'm focusing on each one for 40 days.  I started with love about 50 days ago, but then, just before my time was up, I realized that while I kept reminding myself of the above quote (by Max Lucado) and praying half-heartedly that I'd be more loving, I wasn't really making any effort to be intentional or external about this project.  And then, a day after I realized this, Busymommy (who knew nothing about it) asked if she could pray for any character development that I was working on.  So now I had accountability, too.

 

I have to admit that I was a bit concerned about praying for love.  You know what they say about praying for patience, right?  So I figured that God would put someone really unlovable in my path and I'd have to tolerate that person for 40 days.  Turns out, God knows me better than that.

 

The unlovable person God has put in my path is me.  I have been confronted many times over the past week and a half with people who have challenged my stubborn, opinionated way of thinking.  People with different views on all kinds of different things - and I've realized the one who has to change is me.  Not that I necessarily have to change my views, but I have to stop and think about how to respond (if at all) with love.  I am learning to stop and look through their eyes and try to understand why they see things the way they do.  Sometimes I find that they are right and I am wrong.  Sometimes I find that they are wrong, but I don't have to say that - I can respect them and still disagree.  Sometimes I find that both of us are right, but I have a greater understanding of where they are coming from. 

 

It's not always easy.  While I am learning to keep quiet and think before speaking, more often than not I still say the wrong thing...and then have to come back and apologize.  But I am a work in progress, and I have a God Whose love is far greater than mine.