If I Could Ask One Thing of God Today

If I could ask one thing of God today, it would be to learn to love others the way He loves me. And I don’t mean in some religious, impersonal, send-your-donation-to-the-address-on-your-screen way.

And I don’t mean I want to love the people on the other side of the globe or even the other side of the river. I mean, I DO want to love them. Certainly, I want to love those people, too. But that’s not my prayer today.

My prayer today is to learn to love the people closest to my heart. The ones in whom I am completely and wholly emotionally invested. The ones with whom I share love every day.

For me, this is so much more difficult than loving the person across the river. Not every day. Some days those closest to me are easy to love. Like when they smile and cooperate and speak kindly. And some days they are not.

(I know this goes both ways. I am no saint. But this is my blog and my prayer, not theirs.)

Today, I need to fully rely on God’s love for me to instruct and lead me in love.

I want to learn to love beyond faults, weaknesses and insecurities. To see beyond what is said to me with their mouths and instead get a glimpse of the pain and confusion within their hearts.

To have the wisdom to discern whether Love requires closeness or distance.

Forgiveness or consequences.

Talking or silence.

To resist my own human nature to attack back. Or worse, to flee. To maintain a self-protective stance. To make vows with my heart that declare, “You will NEVER love like this again. Love hurts too much.”

And instead embrace again.

Invest again.

Die again.

And do it all willingly. Joyfully. Because I love them, and that’s how Love behaves. Love never fails, even when it gets a door slammed in it’s face.

I want God to show me how to die to what I deserve. Or what I think I deserve. Especially when I know I’m right and I’ve been wronged. To restore those caught in sin gently. Oh my…the “gently” part is so very hard for me. Which is why I need Love so badly today.

The world would tell me to let harsh words and hurtful actions roll off my back. Don’t sweat the small stuff. That’s life and life is hard. Move on, already.

But is that the way God loves? Does God pretend things don’t bother Him and move on? Does He simply choose to stuff His emotions, so He can go about His day unmoved? Where’s the Light of Redemption in that?

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t want to learn to shut down my emotions and shove them in a dark closet, pretending they don’t exist. That’s not God’s way. That’s not redemptive for anyone. Not me OR my loved ones.

Instead, what I need from God today is His supernatural power to transcend emotion,

to transcend hurt

to transcend frustration

to transcend sadness

and to love anyway.

To be so filled with the Love of God, that Love cannot help but spill out of me when I’m pierced.

That’s how God loves me.

And that’s what I’d ask of God today, if I could only have one thing.

Linking up with Soli Deo Gloria today.