Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."-- Unknown.
Tonight, I finished a painting that I started a couple of months ago. Well, it's kind of finished (explanation following this parenthetical disclaimer). I wanted to add some hair to the guy and fix his nose. I have no delusions of being a true artist, but it was a part of my fung shui journey. I needed a picture of a couple, but didn't have (and wasn't willing to pay for) one, so I decided to make my own (see below - sorry the picture quality isn't so great). After I finished the guy's hair, I got in my head that I wanted to paint the words of 1Corinthians 13 [the love portion] in the background. As I was painting them on the canvas I started to feel convicted.
Two post ago I wrote about patience and love. Since then, I have had some major tests in both areas. While I have had some small victories, I am seriously contemplating if I am #failing in others. Like I mentioned in that post, it is HARD stuff! Anyhow... So, I painted on the words. I stepped back and looked at it and didn't like the way it looked. So I took the brush and painted over the words (hence the erratic brush strokes you see on the painting).
I am a metaphorical thinker, so the symbolism of it all was not lost on me.
No matter how much paint I put on that canvas from this point on those words will always be there. Despite how I felt about their look or fit in my perfect picture (please allow me the liberty to hyperbolize to illustrate the point) they are a part of it.
God calls us to love. Whether we want to "paint" over it with excuses or arguments about how ill equipped we are, the mandate still stands. The world has made us hard. (Or if it is better for me to own it)... The world has made ME hard. So many hurts, slights, and disappointments have made me love shy. Especially when pain is an almost certain outcome of loving.
There are a couple of people right now that I know (at least on the onset) that if I truly commit to loving them, they will assuredly let me down. Because of where they are in life it is a 98% certainty kind of deal. I feel called to love them, but I don't want to. THAT would be uncomfortable for me. However, I know that the best things are not always the easiest things.
I guess if life was always easy, it would be boring. So here is to living. Here's to #winning. Wish me luck!
