Patiently in love

The truth is, I would love to be all that people would like me to be to embellish and bring happiness to their lives. But before I can ever become anything, I must first be honest about who I am. I think we miss seeing the great potential in the growth of others when we lose our patience in the process of seeing them grow into their potential. Gardeners must be patient in order to see the fruit of their hard work; to see the beautiful flowers they planted. Mothers and Fathers must be patient to see their hard work pay off, when their children go off to college, become great professionals and successful citizens in the world. And in the process, I'm sure they had their times when they had to even let go of their bearings and allow them to grow on their own, perhaps even bump their heads before they finally got the point. And although the parent may have wanted Junior to grow up to be a Doctor like them, Junior may not want to be a Doctor. He may want to teach. We miss out on the beauty of who the people really are in our lives because we spend most of the time wishing they could be something different. Let's learn to appreciate one another regardless of obvious differences and/or flaws. People have enough insecurities in themselves and we tend to magnify them by always pointing them out, rather than loving them to a place of perfecting them. In my weakest, filthiest, most wretched state, God looked at me and saw something He absolutely loved! He loved it enough to come and love me out of that state. That's the kind of love we need to pray and ask God for in dealing with our neighbors. I realize now that if one can not find the beauty in who I am as I am, they will not appreciate the beauty of who I will become. I know God loved me in my mess. I can't imagine how much He must be in love with the person He's going to make me. He is patiently in love with me. I'm so excited about that!

L8r:
~faithful