The beginning of anything new and exciting seems so effortless at first. Think of when you go to meet a new person or perhaps you are going in for an interview. You know that you have to make a an impression and make an impact that counts. We do our very utmost to put our best foot forward and show that we deserve whatever it is the we have deemed as the goal we seek.
Perhaps it’s when we find ourselves in a new relationship with someone. It’s brand new and exciting! We find ourselves trying to be the very best version of who we can possibly be. Clothes are on point, hair is a perfect as we can get it and makeup is done to the best of our ability. What happens when we stop the picture of perfection? How does one choose to love when we find ourselves not as easy to love when we have worked a eighteen hour day, the kids are sick or the family dog has pooped on your favorite pair of shoes? What about when we begin to grow a little bit older and we aren’t nearly as picture perfect as we once were? Everyone will get wrinkles, hair will gray and we won’t always have perfection every time we round the corner. What then is it that we choose?
What about when one of the people that we hold the closest has a quarrel with us and we find ourselves in a argument. What do we choose when loving the ones we love becomes something that is not easy and seems to be the very last thing we want or at times strive to do? Where is that we find the capacity to love when the world tells us to do the exact opposite? How do we find the strength to forgive when it is the absolute last thing we want to do? Is love a choice or do we just let life pass us by and see what it is that it tosses our way? Do we just give up when the going gets tough or do we seek something beyond ourselves and this world.
How do we seek to love? Love is a choice. It doesn’t mean that we have to agree on everything. It simply means that we love when it’s the hardest. We can choose to love when it feels like no one else wants to so love. Love really and truly is patient, kind, its forgives and wins when we let it. We were given the greatest gift of love when God gave His only son so that we could live. To give the ultimate sacrifice of life for others is the gift of grace that none of us feels that we could ever deserve is where true love lies. It is by grace that we seek more and more of these winning moments. Love wins when we let people into our hearts, homes and lives. It takes a measure of trust and faith in the fact that God has us no matter what life and all of it’s unexpected moments may hold. We were never promised that life and all of it’s love would always be easy. There will be miles and miles of tribulation and hardships as each season of life brings us more and more opportunities to show what love is.
Seek love in all of the smiles throughout the week, the sunsets and the sunrises, in laughter, hugs, silence, good conversation and in all of the beauty that surrounds as this life continues to mold and shape us into better and true love seeking individuals. These “love wins” moments happen when we choose to forgive instead of holding a grudge, be kind instead of angry, to laugh instead of cry. When we seek more of just what our path is that God has set before us in each person that we meet along the way. Sometimes it is a simple as letting someone know that you care when they need it the most.
It’s taking some time out of the busyness of the day to seek more of these moments. It’s learning to be still and listen to quiet when the world is so loud. May the week be filled with lots of love and more moments of seeking God first, that is where true love lies. Love wins.