Becoming HIS Tapestry

Christian Lifestyle Blogger

DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH

Hey there friends, how are you doing today? How was your week? I had a good week but was slightly under the weather though.  Thankfully, I feel wonderful, today.  The sun is out and it’s a tad bit chilly, but there’s something special about a glorious, blue sky.  During the winter months, the sun very rarely peeks through the heavy, dark, clouds and of course, although the day light hours are lengthening, it still gets dark, pretty quickly. That means, even though the sun wanted some play time, there are not enough hours in the day, to make an appearance.  I don’t like to admit that there are days, when my heart needs the sun but thankfully for me, every now and then, the Lord sends it my way, even when I did not know, I absolutely needed it and today was such a day.  Thank You, Lord.

Did you enjoy your Valentine’s Day or Galantine’s’ (gals) Day? Just wondering, do guys have a day?  Don’t they need one too?  Did I ever tell you the story of how my sweetheart and I met? No? I will tell you some other time, today is not the day. Did you know he asked me to be his special girl on February 13? We celebrate Valentines’ day on February 13, long with the Galentines. It suits us though, because we skip the lines on the actual Valentine Day, which is the best perk.  Of course, we’ve spent twenty-eight (yes, I said twenty-eight) years together, so every day is Valentines’ Day, right? (If only) Thank You, Lord, for the time spent together.  

Last week was a very cathartic week.  Have you ever thought you had dealt with an issue, only you never actually did? I had such an ‘aha’ moment recently.  For the past several blog posts, we’ve spoken quite a bit about love, haven’t we? Thankfully, we’ve spoken primarily about the love of God. 

I’ve recently arrived at the conclusion that I become very cynical when people tell me they love me, especially people I don’t know, or those who know so very little about me.  Truthfully, I do not believe them.  I find it difficult to accept that anyone can love someone without prior intimate knowledge, like a parent, friend, or spouse.  How can you love someone you don’t know? But I also realized something else, it’s okay for people to love without even a shred of knowledge about me.  See, love requires nothing from the next person.  Love is from me to you, without any strings attached.  If I adhere to the standard of God’s Word on the characteristics of love, found in I Corinthians 13, then you don’t have to do anything to deserve my love. You just have to be.  As a Christian, I have been given the task to love the ones created in the image of God. That’s it; that’s all.  Knowledge of another isn’t required to love people, because love is from me to you.  Love people, right? We know that love does not need you to be kind, or even loving in return. Love just loves others.  Why then do I find it difficult to believe that others can love me? Probably because, I find it hard to love according to the standard of the Word of God.  Here is the standard: 

Love is patient and kind; 

love does not envy or boast; 

it is not arrogant or rude. 

It does not insist on its own way; 

it is not irritable or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends… 

That’s the standard, friends.  Unconditional, unfailing, unwavering love from me to you.  Except the truth is, I am unable to love you like that and I think if you are honest, you will say the same.  How can mere man be expected to love like this? And yet, as Christians, that’s exactly what we’ve been called to do.  I think my biggest issue with such love is the ‘endures all things’ part, wellll…patience is another struggle too, and well, if I’m being honest …. ‘does not insist on my own way’ is really not in my nature. Really!??  Endures ALL things? The truth is, on my own, I can’t do it.  I just can’t and honestly, sometimes, it’s too hard, I don’t want to. What has anyone DONE to deserve such love? Oh! That’s right!! We don’t have to DO, we just have to be! Others have heard me say, ‘I don’t like people’ and that’s probably closer to my truth and the longer I live, the more people fail to relieve me of this opinion.  Generally speaking, people are not very nice, are they? WE are not very nice, are we? I am not very nice and yet thankfully, I do not have to be, for you to love me. 

On our own, we cannot love in the manner we’ve been called to, according to the Word of God. We’re just not lovable enough, unfortunately.  It takes knowledge and acceptance of the love of the God of the Universe to love others unconditionally. I have to fully accept the love of God for me to love you and sometimes, even then, impatience is quick to follow me. But thankfully, our God is patient. I seek to love you, my friends…

But please, while we wait for mere man to love us in this way, we will run to the God of the Universe.  His love needs no practice, because He IS love.  He is the very definition of love. We can trust His love for us, because He never, no never, depended on us, in any way, to love us.  We do not have to be good, to kind and even be willing to accept His love, He loves us.  Oh, how He loves us.  

Let’s continue the conversation over on Instagram. Follow my Instagram and I will follow back, just let me know in the comment section. I would love to meet you 🙂

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34 responses to “DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH”

  2. I have also been studying I Corinthians 13. I fall so short of loving with God’s love. I’m so thankful for his grace and long suffering! Side Note: I discovered that Galentines Day existed this year. I had no idea!!! I’m so behind the times!! 😹

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  4. This post encouraged me to let God do the loving through me when I find it hard to do. Especially when family members get judgmental/ hurtful or friends fail me. The Lord’s love is enough.

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  5. I love this honest post! I’m trying to “love” by being more sympathetic and less critical. It’s my nature to notice flaws and try to fix them. (My sister is the same way .) I have to learn to just let God handle it, and just be a caring person, not a fixer. Anyway, hope you’re having a good week. Stay warm! 😊

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  6. I think sometimes we struggle with loving others because we think of love as an emotion. And it is often that. What would our romances be without emotion? But the love of God for others I think is not necessarily “feeling” love for them. It is how we treat them – we may or may not “feel” love but we still treat them as Jesus would do. Show them respect, meet their needs if and when we can, be kind etc. Being times I have found when I acted in the way of love for someone I really did not “feel” love for, often the feeling comes as I act. But even if the feeling does not come, I show love by my actions toward them.

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  7. Ah, love! So hard. “How can you love someone you don’t know?” you ask. I laughed when I read that because it reminded me of the moments after my son was born. I couldn’t tell him I loved him because I thought, “I don’t even know you yet.” I did not have knowledge of God’s love at that time, no knowledge of what love could be. And now that God has given me His heart, I am learning. Baby steps.

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  11. Great post! I’m not a “people” person either, and loving others is sometimes a challenge for me. Thanks for reminding me that I don’t have to be perfect for GOD to love me. And that His love will fill me and He will help me show that love to others. I also followed you on Instagram 😊

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  12. God is love. He withholds nothing good from us. He taught me this definition of love when I was given the opportunity to present the gospel to a neighbor I knew was abusing his children. Did I like the man? Not at all. But God sent His Son to die for him as He did for me. I had something this man needed…the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I shared that word with him I learned what love is. And no, he did not receive Jesus Christ as his Savior. In fact, it wasn’t long after that the man met the Lord face to face. I’m so thankful the Lord loved him through me. Maybe in those last minutes…who knows.

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