Have you ever had one of those painful conversations with someone you love?
“For I write to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love I have for you.” -2 Corinthians 2:4
Love hurts.
Have you discovered this? Have you felt that ache when there’s something between you and a person you care about that just shouldn’t be there, and you know you’re the one who has to make it right?
Maybe it’s a lover or a friend. Maybe it’s a parent or a sibling or a child. Maybe it’s something they did or are doing. Maybe it’s something with you.
Whatever it is, here’s what it all comes down to: to truly love is to surely risk hurting and being hurt, not because you don’t care, but because you do. To truly love is to be willing to put aside your fear of rejection, get over your avoidance of conflict, and let go of the fairy tale that everything should always just “click.”
It doesn’t.
It won’t.
We all fall short in may ways and it is love that extends a hand to help the fallen and falling.
Sometimes the hand must be gentle. Sometimes it must be firm. Sometimes it must bring relief, and other times, pain, but always with the same ultimate goal: healing.
Love isn’t shown most clearly on the days of wine and roses or when everyone gets along, but in the trenches of life when you are willing to suffer on the behalf of someone you care about and lay down your life for them.
After all, that’s what Jesus did for you.
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NOTE: Sometimes people ask me if what I write is always about my life. Sometimes they get concerned when they read something like this and wonder, “Is Phillip ok?” Good news, yes it always has something to do with my life, but these posts are usually more about meditations on the particular Scripture passage I’m going through, rather than particular circumstances happening around me. I have other outlets for that. 😉 Thanks for reading!
-Pastor Phillip
