Outpouring of Love

     Have you ever watched the news after a disaster and seen how swiftly aid comes from every corner of the world? People come from all over the world to try to help in any way they can. It truly is an outpouring of love. In our day to day life, this can also be seen. Sometimes it is as simple as the person ahead of us paying for our coffee, or when we let someone go ahead of us in line at the supermarket. Love manifests itself in many ways.

    On the other hand, we all too often get caught up in our day to day lives. Maybe we even get short tempered and lose our patience. We are after all - human. When we have a bad day, it can be difficult to see past the moment and focus on the positives. We humans often have a habit of looking inward, or looking at the world. To quote one of my favorite authors, "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest." - Corrie Ten Boom.

    It is only by changing our focus that we can show love to others. Granted, people can do acts of charity for ulterior motives, this is not what I am talking about. And I will not address it today, perhaps in another post. We cannot focus on all the rotten things in the world and expect to be loving. We can, however, see a problem with the world and let it stir our hearts into action. 

    We also cannot focus only on ourselves. If we only look inward, all those flaws will begin to speak and gain a foothold. This doesn't mean we shouldn't evaluate ourselves and have goals to do better. Now, there is the hard part. Not one of us has the ability to be perfect. That was the reason Christ had to come. Never a more perfect love! A sacrifice made so that we may have eternal life.

    What is love? 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love is patient, kind, and doesn't envy. Love is not self-seeking and is slow to anger. Love rejoices in the truth and doesn't delight in evil. Love protects, hopes, and perseveres. The one perfect example of love is Jesus. He didn't help people in order to network to benefit his career. He didn't demand exuberant compensation for His healing. He was unafraid to speak the Truth even at the cost of His life. 

    That I think is how I maintain sanity in this world. I know there is something beyond. Even when I was homeless and starving, I had hope for a better tomorrow. This doesn't mean I wasn't bitter about the situation. I was an imperfect teenager. I looked inward too much. I focused too much on my academic potential being the key to a stellar career. Life rarely goes the way we plan. I work an everyday job, and you couldn't pay me to live in a big city where the 'stellar' careers are. (No offense to New York, but it's not my cup of tea."

     As a child, I was very much focused on myself. Sure, I would see others and their discomfort. Maybe I even wanted to help. Most of the time, there wouldn't be a way to help. I couldn't change the fate of the foster child. But I learned I would listen to the foster child. I could show empathy, I could share chocolate. 

    When we turn to God, we change our focus. We can feel our hearts move towards something greater than ourselves. Each of us has a gift to offer, even if you don't see it. When we work together as a Christian community, that is when we can see an outpouring of love. Beautiful Grace. I want to allow God to use me in such a way that it is a reflection of His love. To do this, I must see the others around me, even though, like so many others, I have a lot going on. Even if we lose everything, in Christ we will always have faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.