Ugly truths & Beautifying love...
What's going down, "brow"nistas?
I really hope you are setting aside your much needed moments for "brow"time.
Me?
Oh, you know. The journey is ongoing. As God grants me the opportunity to live and breath each day, He shows me something new. At times, I wish I wasn't in such a rush. I wish I would really live by "taking it one day at a time." I believe then I could appreciate more the wisdom my heavenly Father imparts to me on a daily basis.
I guess where I am right now is a place of embracing my truths. You know, at times, I feel as though we run from the truth. But the Bible teaches us that the truth shall set us free. I wonder if we really know what that means? We spend so much time living in our heads. Our view of our life is either what we think it is, what we want it to be, or what our intentions are as we hope for the future and rewrite the past. (I don't want to be all over the place, but this is MY blog and I can utilize it however I want, so stick with me...I'm going somewhere!) How often do we encounter the REALITY/TRUTH of our lives? I have discovered most people avoid doing this because they either enter into depression, bail out and walk away from their lives out of frustration or disappointment, or in some unfortunate cases commit suicide. What have we done to the truth? When did it get such a bad rep? Is facing our realities that bad?
Somewhere in life, we got things twisted. We created this world where we are pressured, and pressure others, to live with these expectations that aren't reality. We believe we are more than we are, and that we should have some things or our life and relationships should look a certain way.
To that I say "ok, where did all of this come from?" (We would be here all day taking responses from the class...so, let's just reserve our theories for the end of the class, umkay?)
My theory (I am the facilitator so I can shamelessly insert my limited view) is we rely on illusions (other people's fantasies, television, and so on) to create expectations that will never come to past or are hard to live up to.
What the HAY is going on?
You know one of the main reasons I love God?
Here it is....
Romans 5:8
New King James Version (NKJV)
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I want to focus on "while we were still..."
OOHHHHHH, there is SO much in that. I can't even begin to unpack it all. Real quick: Here is what God did for you and me.
When we weren't loveable, He loved us.
When our attitude was foul, life messed up, addicted and proud of it, nasty and enjoying it, not doing things His way, boasting our self proclaimed goodness, God LOVED us. He didn't cover it up. He didn't call it something else. He didn't love the version of us that was in His mind and ignore the reality of who we were and how we were behaving. He looked at us, in our undesirable state, and chose to love us when we were a COMPLETE turn off!
WHOA!
PPPREEEEAAACCCHHHH!
Here is my question. How come we don't love each other, or even I dare say, ourselves the same way?
I am learning there are some UGLY things about my life, and myself, and those I love, that I must embrace. Not so I can become like those without hope because I have hope...I have it in Christ who IS Hope. No, I do what God does with and for me. Through an intensely intimate act of love, God became so close with me, that through the purity of His divine nature, all that was ugly, nasty and impure was overtaken and purged out of me until I became the beauty He created me to be. The Bible says He gives us beauty for ashes...(Isaiah 61:3)
I want to ask have you ever loved so hard and so intense that you pushed something (or someone) into a better state? How about loving yourself in that way?
See, what we do is called manipulation. We try to change something, or someone, to make it love worthy.
This is why God's love eludes us. We can't grasp it. God is and does the opposite. His love makes us worthy. His love transforms because it looks at what obviously doesn't deserve it and decides to love it anyway.
Can I tell you it's freedom in that?
Can I encourage you to look at yourself and somethings in your life and stop trying to do a PR spin campaign which says "well, no TECHNICALLY, I didn't" or "no, it's not that," or whatever else we do to prevent from facing the truth?
It's okay to love what isn't loveable.
That doesn't make you a fool.
It makes you brave, courageous and like the God who created you in His image.
The truth doesn't bite. It may hurt sometimes because we have to face it isn't what we created in our minds, or what others think we should do or have, but the truth once you get to know it, really isn't that bad.
The truth is a cool cat who is confident enough in itself to know that eventually after you finish running around getting everyone else's opinion, you will find your way to meet it, embrace it, and yeah...let it in.
You know, you can know the truth about yourself and others can know the truth about you and still love you. Perhaps you should give yourself and others that gift.
When I look at my family now, I thank God He gives me what I need to love who they really are! I really love me even with all of my shortcomings and mess. And I don't care to have anyone in my close circle who can't handle the reality of who I am because, honey, I am a piece of work and you better know what you signed up for!(I hate to end sentences in prepositions but it didn't sound right any other way!)
Look, embrace your ugly truths and allow love to meet you on the other side. You can trust the kind of love that has seen you at your worst and has chosen to prevail.
So, when you are away in your "brow"time and enjoying the time you have to yourself, make sure you invite the truth...you'll find the two of you will get along just fine.
