Love is the ultimate sacrifice we can give. To love someone is to want everything good for them and make it happen within your abilities-at all costs.
I have this friend who constantly reminds me of the person I want to be, knowingly, or not. We were talking the other night and she told me “you’ve already opened your heart to me, you can’t take it back”. It made me realize how having an open heart with people deepens your relationship to a “no-turning-back” point. It is easy for us to say ‘man, people suck. I’ll just get them before they can get me”. I know this is the attitude of many people in this world.
I know this life was supposed to be shared. It is why even the biggest atheists long for relationships in order to one day get married. When, if they really knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t have the desire in them to want to share life and to participate in a fundamental religious ceremony. We were created with desires. Our desires are not there so they can’t be met; they are there to show us exactly what we need in order to survive and live.
We are not able to be ourselves without the consistency of people who hold us accountable. Ultimately, we need God in order to supply our needs, and to surpass our deepest wants and desires. But he created a companion for man because our lives were made to be connected. There is no me without the many people who surround and occupy my heart. It is why we are so easily influenced by the ones we care about so much.
My friend who I mentioned earlier is never afraid to tell me when I am not being a good friend. She also has the ability to let me know when I am not being the person I need to be with her reactions (like I said, knowingly or not). She has pointed out flaws in me this week that I have always compromised by claiming it as a different characteristic. The truth is, I just react to the first thing I hear that can be believed. I am not proud of this fact, but I am working on it.
A thought occurred to me the other day that if I don’t treat my friends with the same respect I hold with Christ, I am not a true Christian. I am contradicting everything I have ever believed in, or preached. I need to love those around me with the same abundant love that healed me and brought me to the person I am today. The love I have cannot be faked. Any love I give, I pray, is undeniable because I am hoping it is just a reflection of the powerful love given to me every moment of every day by a God who is bigger than we can imagine or comprehend.
The love that I refuse to keep to myself, will never give up. Love gives us meaning, it gives us hope. I will forever see this world as beautiful through this heart I need to wear more. I pray that each person KNOWS love. I mean: agape. Self-sacrificial feelings that is deeper than a brotherly love and more intimate than any other relationship we may have.
I am thankful for my friend who holds me to these standards. I want to continually make sure others' happiness is above mine, because I am happiest when those around me are full of joy. My goal will be to make sure I am a better friend, and person to every person around me, no matter the cost. The person who I am intended to be is brought out by the people who surround me.
Love is the undeniable ability to conquer our darkest sides, and to restore us to our intended state.
We are able to overcome anything with love.
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