Love. There are many types of love. There’s the kind of love a parent has for their child, there is the kind of love a sister has for her brother, there is the kind of love one has for their friend, there is the kind of love a husband has for his wife, and there is the kind of love God has for his children. As much as we would like to deny it, it is human nature to desire love. We look for love everywhere we go. We look for that feeling of acceptance whether its from the people around us, our parents, spouse, or siblings. But the sad reality is that we don’t always find it where we think we should. Siblings don’t always love one another, husbands and wives can easily fall out of love, friends don’t always love each other as they should, and parent don’t always show their children love.
As much as we desire love and acceptance we also want to protect ourselves. We are quick to build up walls and we are easy to forgive but not forget. We all at one point in our life have felt rejection or abandonment from the ones that are suppose to love us.
Living in community has showed me that we are searching for the love and acceptance feeling in the people around us, including myself. We have all just met each other less than two months ago and now we are thrown into life with each other. In our new lives here in Guatemala we are all just looking for our place. We all have walls built up that prevent us form loving each other the proper way. From our past experiences we have been trained to think that we have to earn love and acceptance, especially in such large group. But what I am starting to realize is that in one way or another all kinds of love are going to disappoint us expect for God’s love for us. We don’t have to work or earn his love, it is constantly surrounding us we just have to be willing to accept it. God loves us even through all the walls we have built up and He wants to tear those down so we can start to love others around us the way He loves us.
God works in mysterious ways and He is showing me that I am looking for love in all the wrong places. Instead of running to Him when I feel alone I run to people around me for security. But God is truly the only security I need. My identity isn’t found in my relationships with the people around me, but it is found in my relationship with God. His love never fails, and he will always be a guarantee when it feels like nothing else is.
Lots of love, from Guate
