Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up this morning feeling grateful. I had something good happen this week, and I'd like to share it.

There has been one person in my life who I have found it very difficult to love well. Regardless of my reasons, when I thought of this person, there was a stone hanging heavily in my heart.

I read a chapter in Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller this week, and it made it clear to me why I was not loving this person, and why I needed to be. I was not loving her because she was not doing what I thought she should be doing, and I felt like it was hurting her and people around her. I felt that if I loved her, I would be accepting the hurtful things that she did. As Donald Miller puts it, we tend to treat love like money. We give it to those who we think deserve it, and we withhold it from those we think should change. We say we love all people and want what's good for them, but people can tell when we genuinely care about them, accept them, and like them.

However, by reading this book, I was reminded that I am free to love my person despite any differences between us. I can love her because she's a human being, and as such, she is inherently amazing!

After being there for over a year, the heaviness that was in my heart about this person is gone. I still am working daily on changing how I treat this person, and I feel free now.

Here is a verse from a song sung at Matthew and my wedding that expresses the simple beauty of loving daily that I want inside of me:

Praise God for love, praise God for life

In age or youth, in calm or strife.

Lift up your hearts! Let love be fed

Through death and life in broken bread.

Hooray!!!

Please feel free to leave comments letting me know something that you are thankful for!