As I write this post, I am a mixture of two states: sadness and joy. The sadness I realize is my selfish desire to have my mother in my life forever. This of course is unrealistic. As Christians we know that our time on this earth is for a season. To help us live abundantly while on earth, we are reminded not to be conformed to this world. Enjoy things and love people but set them free when God calls them home. The joy I feel comes from knowing that my mother is in a much better place and state.

LOVE IS THE MISSION OF GOD’S CHILDREN

I confess that for decades I did not have a clue what that meant. Love to me meant being vulnerable and getting hurt. Then one day I woke up and realized that the other side of the coin is the fulfilling nature and power of love. Think about this for a moment, the ultimate example of love that we as Christians know is the love God showed us when He willingly sacrificed His only beloved son to save us and set us free. We are free to live abundantly, and yet so many of us are enslaved by our possessions, positions, or by people and places. The irony is this enslavement is often unrecognized. However, I digress. While on one side there is vulnerability and potential hurt, on the other side is the power gained by loving freely and unconditionally. Furthermore, love, unconditionally demonstrated, fills us up and overflows to the world.

MOM LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY

My mother showed us love in so many small and big ways. The biggest way that she showed us love was her willingness to leave an abusive marriage to give us a better life. That was not an easy thing to do, and it was a testament of her courage and strength. Yet it was more than that, it was a testament of her faith. Mom believed in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Like every one of us, she made mistakes, we are after all imperfect humans. There is strength that comes from knowing God and fully accepting His love. However, sometimes although we know in our heads, we fail to fully trust in our hearts that we are worthy. This comes about because we focus on our earthly bad experiences and childishly believe that we are at fault, we are broken, and undeserving. If we hold on to a belief LONG ENOUGH, it begins to define our life, our every action.

LOVE GOD, SELF, AND OTHERS UNCONDITIONALLY

The catch with love is that when you forget to love yourself, you end up settling for crumbs. When you believe that you are not valuable or worthy, you mistakenly think that you cannot have what you truly desire and deserve. We ALL desire and deserve to love and be loved unconditionally. That love must come not only from God and others, but most importantly from ourselves. Stop denying your right to love yourself. EXAMINE YOUR STORY right now, “Am I loving myself unconditionally, or have I been settling for crumbs?” Stop carrying around a heavy burden that you were not meant to carry. Instead, learn to take it to God in prayer and leave it with Him. The problem is many of us take it to God in prayer and then try to help Him. God does not need our help. Thus, while hurt may occur with love, ultimately you come out on the winning side when you love unconditionally. I know my Mom did. Love you forever my amazing and beautiful mother!