tangible love pt 2

Growing up, I have vivid memories of bad things happening.  I have memories of people hurting me and leaving me to self-destruct. I have memories of myself hurting me, wanting to be brave enough to self-destruct.  When I was 17, I started a journey as a Christian.  I started really strong but I always got caught up in that whole trust portion.  In my experiences, trust was a bad word.  Trust did nothing but open and expose you to some potential pain.  Its been 12 years since I began that journey and I have spent a many number of years contemplating Jesus and his character.  I have heard the story of Jesus over and over.  I have read the bible more times than I can count.  I went to bible school, I went on missions trips – I did the thing.  What I took from all that time in the beginning is that while you struggle with things, you can only tell a few people that you really trust because the rest won’t understand why you wouldn’t conform.  I have talked to liberal Christians, and die hard old school Christians and you know where I see Jesus the most? I see Jesus in missionaries.  I see Jesus in people like my husband.  I see Jesus in some genuine Christians.  I see Jesus in people who don’t have anything to offer except their love. 

Missionaries are taught to contextualize.  It’s like the foundation to cross communication.  I can’t tell you what a spoon is if you haven’t seen it, but I can compare it to whatever the heck that thing you use like a spoon is.  Missionaries are taught to live amongst the people they work with and give like Jesus.  Missionaries HAVE to be close to Jesus because their entire job is to emulate him.   They have more patience, understanding, and love than most people I have met and I think this is because they aren’t there to make you become an American – they are literally there because they have a love for the people they live with.  They are literally there to serve people, live amongst people and love. Missionaries allow the Holy Spirit to change lives through them.  I have never met a missionary who has judged me for a thought, action or speech.  This acceptance is full of love.  It inevitably tells me that you accept me right now, how I am.  Tangible love rule #1 – accept people where they are, exactly how they are and know they deserve love.

My husband, in the wake of a recent loss in his life has made it a point to try and be a better person to others around him, however they need it.  In this change of his, I have watched him take care of our neighbors, bring his mother groceries when she didn’t have any, buy dinner for a local youth hangout to help support Fairbanks youth every week, and love me.  His love for me is what I want to focus on.  I have watched my husband get up when he is tired and make me dinner when I come home from work.  I have seen him choose me over himself in more times a day than I can keep track of.  Bring me flowers at work “just because”,   I have seen my husband visibly irritated with something I have done and choose patience instead of something more negative.  I have seen his heart when it comes to investing in people and making new friends.  All these things are tangible acts of love that I have been inspired to do for other people in my life.  His love for me and others has inspired me to love those better in my life.  Tangible love rule #2 – Loving other people consistently will inspire and change the world.  Love changes people.

The church I kind of go to has pastors that are genuine people.  They care, they call, they are available, selfless and uplifting.  They are smart and honest, devoted and driven.  They are kick ass people who love Jesus and spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what they can do for my community all the time.  The Jesus that I see in their hearts is what gives me hope, helps heal my heart from bad church experiences and keeps me going to church to find Jesus. Tangible love #3 – Love is a genuine thing, people know when you are full of bullshit.  Learn to love people genuinely and they’ll stick around.

Sometimes we get caught up in what we have, or how much we have.  Love is free.  I once had a conversation with a man from Sri Lanka and he asked me about having children.  I told him I wanted to wait to have enough money to have a kid to which he responded that if I end up having a kid before my plans, to remember that love is more important than money and will lead to a rich life.  Poor people know what its like to be poor and a lot of times offer what they can because its what they can give.  When I was in Egypt, I visited a family.  It is customary to offer drinks when guests visit you there and this family went out and borrowed money to get us drinks.  It was so humbling.  People show love when they have nothing else to give.  Tangible love rule #4 – Genuine love although tough to give is sometimes more appreciated than gifts or other things

I implore you to try loving someone tangibly for a week.  Not only does it make you happier but you change lives.  Love is just so powerful and beautiful. It takes a lot of hard work to love someone selflessly but it’s so worth it.