As I was laying in bed last night, I realized how similar that is to my relationship with God. I have no doubts that God loves me. It is written all over His word. He shows me all the time, in different ways, how He is romancing me. He is persistent in fighting for our relationship, even when I’m not. He loves me more than I could ever love Him, and yet He loves me anyways.
Meanwhile, I’m over here loving Him in my own way, which often isn’t how He’s asked. Love God with all my heart and soul? Sure, no problem. Love my neighbor? Uh, what about the other one, this one is annoying? Spend time in prayer? Easy peasy, I love chatting with God. Read the bible? Maybe tomorrow. That baby’s barely written in English, plus I’m tired.
Knowing HOW to love God is pretty simple. He makes it clear enough. But ACTUALLY loving God the way God asks us to love Him isn’t easy. It requires a lot of effort. And sometimes, I don’t make the time or put in the work. And it doesn’t mean that I don’t love God; it just means that I have to work harder at it, which is a process. Some days I’ll be really good at it, other days I’ll suck. Luckily, God isn’t going to stop loving me on my bad days. He knows me, and He knows I’m trying, even when I don’t quite pull it off (or when I outright screw it up).
And knowing that gives me hope, not just for figuring things out with my ex, but also with my parents, my brother, my friends and even strangers. We are called to love each other, but we have to learn how to do that. It looks different to every person, and there will be lots of times where we screw it up, despite our best intentions. But there’s grace for that; for ourselves and for each other.
True love, the kind we should be striving for, doesn’t mean not messing up. It means knowing that we will, doing our best not to and seeking forgiveness when it happens. And while I’m learning new things about what that means for my relationship with God, I’m also learning how those things apply to all the people I love (or am trying to love), too. Forgiving people who don’t love me well. Being purposeful about showing people I love them through my actions, not through lip service. Making the extra effort to invest in those around me, even when I’d rather check out. Loving people completely, flaws and all.
So my challenge to everyone this coming month is to love harder than you’ve ever loved before. If that means forgiving someone, forgive. If that means spending time doing an activity you don’t like, but is your dad’s favorite, do that with him. If it means volunteering to grade your mom’s papers while she takes a night off, get out your red pen. Or maybe tutoring your younger sibling in Spanish because it’s hard and he or she doesn’t have a brain for languages.
Love hard. Love well. Love often.
