These ramblings stem from LIFE......LIFE home and LIFE abroad.....Lots of LIFE, People and Observations!
Some
people I run into come from that “happy home” that is filled with love, good,
sound teaching, loving discipline, and filled with joy and laughter. These
people are able to “go out” into the world and LOVE! They bring JOY, Grace,
Kindness and Mercy. They exhibit self-control, are flexible and adaptable to
many different situations. They are accountable for their actions and create
very little drama around them. They have learned effective coping strategies,
they share their sadness, they know when to laugh and when to cry.
YES, there are people “out there” just
like this!! I have met them, they are genuinely good people raised with a
strong foundation of LOVE!!
It
is the LOVE described in 1Corinitihains 13:4-7. It is LOVE that is patient and
kind; Love that does not envy or boast; Love that is not proud or rude: Love
that is not self seeking or easily angered; Love that takes no account of
wrongs; Love that has no pleasure in evil and rejoices in truth; Love that
bears all things, and endures all things.
I am
blessed each time I meet one of these LOVING people J
I long to be one of “those
people”, BUT the reality is I did not come from that strong foundation of love,
nor did my forefathers. Thus, I come from a generation of “survivors”.
We “survivors” did the best we could and reacted to the world according
to how we saw everyone else react. We coped with LIFE using a variety of
crutches including drugs, alcohol, sex, food addictions, lust, envy, jealously,
fighting, anger, passive-aggressiveness, impulsiveness, gossip, greed, pride
and delusions of grandeur. We were tough, hardheaded, simple-minded or just the
opposite, passive, quiet, disengaged and introverted. We could “do life” on our
own. We did not need wisdom, we already knew it all. We said “I love you” all
the time, yet it was mixed with everything BUT love. Life was filled with conflict and confusion. Our
lives reflected the continuous drama associated with these behaviors.
This is the battle and
confusion that I have been fighting my entire life. I share openly because I
believe this “battle” effects the majority of society. My heart breaks for this
fallen world! I know the pain that lack of true love causes. ALL of the broken
pieces are due to behaviors that are the outcome of lack of love. We, have
contributed to this broken world.
The Good News is, we can also
take an active part in coming alongside and creating renewal. To heal this
world, we have to walk in LOVE. We must know and believe that True, REAL LOVE
only comes from our Creator, God!! HE has given us the TRUTH for life in HIS
WORD! He shows us story after story the effects of the human heart that lacks love.
He tells us what NON-LOVE, evil is. He teaches how non-loving behaviors will
creep into our lives and attack our families. When we trust, believe and walk
in obedience to HIS way, our hearts are renewed and changed. We can see the
TRUTH come alive.
As it says in 1 Corintithans
13:11-12
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I
thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside
childish ways. Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we
shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I
am fully known”.
When we trust and believe, we put aside childish thinking
and learn from our maker and LOVE is transformed into new hearts! I pray that ALL will go to HIS Word, the Bible for the wisdom we need to LOVE as HE LOVES US!
So
I say to those “good” people, continue with the wisdom that you were raised
with. DO NOT be naïve and take your upbringing of good, sound wisdom and love
for granted and get caught up into following the culture. Just because the
“culture” does it, does not mean that it right. In LIFE, there is a slippery
slope that can quickly grab hold and pull you into a downward spiral. I say this
boldly because I have watched it happen.
In my “renewed” walk, I have chosen to mix with those with a good foundation,
yet have seen them get sucked in because they truly did not know or understand
the effects of “NON-LOVING” behaviors. Be careful!! KNOW Gods ways, not the
world’s ways J
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