If the Love Dare has taught me nothing else yet, it has taught me that God equips us with ALL the tools that we need to lead a happy, fulfilling, successful and honorable life. If we just follow his word. By loving others unconditionally and non-judgmentally we are showing love for ourselves and in turn God. We are not created hateful, spiteful and arrogant beings. We are born pure, innocent, trusting and loving creatures, it is our surroundings and environment that helps mold us into what we are and will be in adolescents and adulthood.
Why do people choose to hate? Why do people get pleasure from other people's pain? Is it thousands of years of jealousy, bitterness and loathing? Ever since the murder of Able by his brother Cain society has found it "alright" to do harmful things to other beings. I understand that it all started with Eve eating the apple and Adam following suit - DUH! That was all MEANT to happen, but why aren't there more people out there who choose LOVE instead of HATE? And I say choose, because we all have the freedom of choice, in EVERYTHING that we do.
God is not a spiteful, hateful God. He's a loving, beautiful, all powerful being who created each and every one of us in his image - so why is it that so many people (Christian or not) choose to err on the side of evil? You don't have to be a Christian to understand the differences between right and wrong. You don't have to know the scriptures to know that God loved us ALL so much that he gave his ONE and ONLY son so we could have ETERNAL life! (John 3:16).
Being a new mom I honestly don't know how God did it. How he could let his son be humiliated, degraded, dishonored and die for ME (and you, and you, and you)! If God were to ask me to take my son to a far away land and sacrifice him (as Abraham did so willingly --ALMOST) I'd laugh and call him crazy. Enoch has become Nolan and my pride and joy and I honestly feel sorry for the first person to ever hurt him intentionally. I don't want to be that overbearing/over protective mother - but that's my BABY you're messing with. And if we have a daughter next oh GOODNESS - her friends better watch out for her daddy!
When discussing whether we were going to have children or not this actually came up in topic. We weren't sure if we wanted to bring another living creature into a world that is so hateful, unforgiving and unrepentant. I know that some things can not be helped, and everyone must feel pain and loss - DUH it's part of being human - but there is so much CRAP in the world today that we weren't sure if we were up to the challenge of raising our children in a Christian home, serving God in everything we do and answering questions daily of "why doesn't this person like me" or "why is this person so hateful to everyone." How DO you answer those questions? "Because Satan is roaming free in the world son." or "It doesn't matter what others do to you you must rise above it and be the bigger person." YEAH alright! Like that's so easy.
I know that growing up there were PLENTY of times that I didn't rise above it (being a hot head didn't help this). I was quick to speak and slow to listen. My temper MORE times than not got the best of me - and in all honesty it made my school years much more difficult on myself. I wasn't the "popular" girl but I was "accepted" by most cause I was the "nice" girl, until someone REALLY pissed me off and then I became the 'weird' girl who says anything that she feels. There's a HUGE difference between being 'part' of the crowd and just being 'accepted'. When my own teammates kept things from me because I wasn't 'cool' enough enough finally became enough and I ended up quitting cheerleading (the ONE sport that I LOVED more than life itself) for a couple season JUST so I wouldn't have to be around that negativity.
I don't wish my adolescent years on my children by ANY means - cause as we all know they're not easy for ANYONE, but I do wish that they are able to find friends who don't just 'accept' them, but love them for who and what they are. But is it just adolescents that we have to worry about?
Being an ARMY wife I have found that it is just easier to hole yourself up in your house than to go out and let your light shine. I have been burnt many times now by fellow ARMY wives and at one point last year (after my sons birth) I just said forget it - and pretty much fell off the face of the earth. I was tired of the negativity and the pessimism that surrounded me: "You're pushing your son too much, just let him be a kid." "You're a horrible mother if you hold your child all the time." "I can't believe that so and so's husband was put up for a promotion and mine wasn't, they don't even deserve it." "My husband has cut me off financially without letting me know and we have three kids, I had to go out and get two jobs." "You call yourself a Christian? That's a new one!" <-- I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not saying that this life is easy or any more difficult than yours - but for some reason it is MUCH harder to block out the negativity in this little bubble that we call Fort Bragg than it is out in the "real world". So ... if I've said nothing else this morning please just begin, one day/thought at a time, to think before you speak and act. Your actions may have a negative effect on someone around you! When we least expect it God puts people into our lives for a reason. We may not know that reason right away, but sometimes it's just to remind us that he's here and watching our EVERY move. Try to be more Christ like and know that no matter WHAT we do we are our biggest critics - all the haters don't hold a candle to the damage that you can do to your own heart! Food for Thought: Is there someone in your past that you may have hurt, intentionally or unintentionally, and need to ask forgiveness from? Is there someone that has hurt you that you need to forgive?
Prayer for Today: Lord please continue to show me how to love unconditionally. It's easy to love your friends and family, but Lord this week I want to branch out and show love in some way to my neighbors (of 5 months now), who I have barely waved hello's to. I also ask Lord that society as a whole begin to see the err of their ways and start to turn hate and slander into Love and Caring for each other. I know that in the news industry "If it bleeds, it leads" but let us see that not ALL news has to be bad!
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