Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Love Lessons From A New Mom

Loving someone means being inconvenience for their benefit.
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It means watching them fall again and again, knowing when to pick them up and when to encourage him/her to get up on their own.
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It means showing them beautiful things in their world they never knew existed.
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It means allowing them to grow at their own pace, even when you may want it to go faster.
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It means being excited when they learn the littlest thing, even when it seems elementary to you.
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It means remembering they are a gift from God, even when you’re having a bad day
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These concepts seem so easy when I am looking at my little one, Elijah. He is this joyful, excited, fresh little spirit exploring his new life. It only makes sense to love him with the amount of grace and selflessness love requires.
God is challenging me with the fact that this type of love is not for babies alone. This love is for all. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
To be honest, I am selfish with my life. I don’t want to share it with people who are going to clutter it up with their “baggage”. I would prefer putting up boundaries and loving them when it is convenient to me. It’s just easier.
But I believe God has given me Elijah as an opportunity to relearn how to love. He is showing me that my life is not mine, but His.
That I should receive opportunities to love others as a gift, rather than a burden.
This may sound so simple. Many of you may have learned this lesson years ago. I thought I had too. But we all have those people in our lives who have let us down or not lived up to our expectations. The people we love conditionally.
And so my prayer for each of us is that God would give us opportunities to relearn what it means to love and that we would be good students.

-Jes Williams, CSM Nashville City Director

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