Light, Love, Hope

And now these three remain:

faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

I’m sure you’ve heard the above scripture quoted in church, but have you allowed them to truly speak to your heart?

When all else fails, remember the three things that remain:

Faith – When your fears try to take over, allow your faith to prevail.  Let it speak directly to your fears and tell them to leave as it has no place here.  Our God is bigger than your deepest fear, and He holds you in the palm of His hand.

Hope – God has instilled hope without our hearts.  No matter what we’re facing, there’s always a glimmer of hope if we only grasp on to it and cling to it with all of our might.  God provides hope in the mist of devastating circumstances or situations.

Love – Is there anything sweeter than to know, feel, and to be told that you are loved?  Without a shadow of a doubt, you can feel yourself wrapped in the love of your God.  No storm can rage against you that God isn’t going to be there shielding you with His great love.  I believe that with every ounce of my being.

If you’re going through a hard time, cling to that scripture – allow faith to take over and leave fear in the rear view mirror.  Cling to the hope that is in Jesus Christ.  And feel His love wash over you.  There is no greater love than the love the Father has for His children.

Imagine how you feel when you look at your children.  They are little angels sent straight from Heaven above to make our hearts dance wildly and feel unconditional love like never before.  Realize that how you feel about your children and how you look at them is exactly the way our Father God looks at us and loves us – only a thousand times greater!  Can you imagine that?   Believe it, because it’s true!

When things of this world pass away, when people disappoint you and hurt you, know that God is right there with you every step of the way.  He wants to restore your faith, give you a new hope and love on you like never before, if you will only allow Him to do so.

Do you ever wonder why you bother with some people?  No matter how hard you try, nothing you say or do seems good enough for them.  You won’t make them happy no matter what you do.  They are bound and determined to look down their noses at you regardless, so leave them to their miserable selves then!

A person chooses to be this way.

They are given the same opportunity we all are;  24 hours in a day to enjoy to the fullest.  Instead, what they do is complain, find fault, and surely cannot ever look in the mirror to see what role they are playing in all of this.  It’s always someone else … never them.  For they can never do any wrong.  Hardly!  What they fail to see is what is so painfully obvious to those around them!

It is okay to distance yourself from people like this.  Do NOT feel any guilt whatsoever when you finally put those boundaries in place either.  It’s a completely healthy thing to distance yourself from those who only wish to hurt you with what they say and do.

My daughter has had to learn this lesson the hard way.  She’s been hurt through the years, and her heart tried to forgive and go back for more each time.  The assaults the people launched on her heart was too great, though, and as she reached adulthood, she hung out the “Do Not Disturb” sign and has had zero contact with those who shattered her self worth and self confidence for years.  When she was a vulnerable child and teenager, when those people should have protected her from evil, they were the very ones launching their attacks on her.  It was hard to sit back and watch this happening knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to help her.  I tried, oh Lord how I tried to talk sense into these people, but it fell on deaf ears each and every time.  The result?  She has cut them out of her life.  THEY are the ones that are missing out.  Honestly.  They don’t get to see the once caterpillar now turned into this absolutely gorgeous butterfly spread her wings and fly high.  They missed out on important events in her life when they should have been celebrating HER but instead chose to berate her to the point she wanted nothing more to do with them.    It broke this mother’s heart watching it all unfold, but I could not be more proud of the woman she has become.  She finally realized her worth and said, “Enough is enough!  I will NOT be mistreated like this ANY more by them.”

What she did was extremely mature and healthy, and I applaud her for the boundaries she put in place with those that once tried to rip her to shreds with their words and actions.  I know first hand how that feels as I was once their target as well.  I chose not to use the term “victim” because I will NOT allow myself to be a victim, not with them or any one.

In the end, they are the losers.  I firmly believe this with everything that I am.

They won’t get to celebrate with her when she gets her degree, and they will not be present when she walks down the aisle to marry the love of her life.  They won’t participate in any aspect of her life unless she has a tremendous change of heart toward the offenders.

It’s sad, too.  Because they lose.  They have lost for years now, but they probably have been too self absorbed to realize it.  Yet, as time marches on and they are not allowed to be a part of her life, they will be filled with regret.  I believe at some point, whether they want to admit it or not, it will finally hit them.    And they will realize much too late that they really were the biggest losers here.

It’s so hard to invite people into our lives.  We fear we will be judged.

We often wonder, “Will they find out just how weird I am and run away, or will they embrace it because they are uniquely weird in their own way, too?” 

“Will they look down their noses at us for not having our lives perfectly in order, or will they take our hands as we try to figure this thing called life out together?”

There are so many unknowns when you meet someone for the first time.

I will never forget being new to my current job and feeling like I was being examined under a microscope.  They were watching me to see how I’d fit in with the flow of the office and with the families we serve, and I was testing the waters to see how I’d like it also being new to the industry.

It is hard being new to any industry, I’ll admit.  Some welcomed me with open arms and helped me learn the trade.  Others snubbed me, talked down to me, and just treated me poorly because they were friends with the lady that left this position.  While it was her choice to leave, it afforded me the opportunity to take charge and run this office in an orderly fashion; something it was lacking before.  My boss even had to call one person down with how they were speaking to me because it was anything but professional.  I totally “get” the loyalty they felt toward the lady that held this position previously.  They felt justified in their ill-treatment of me, yet they never gave me a chance to prove myself before automatically assuming I couldn’t possibly excel in this position.

But you know what?  I have.

Everything I have learned, I have had to learn the hard way.  There wasn’t a manual to go by, no clear-cut instructions left behind so I could fall right into this position fully equipped.  Nope.  I had to re-invent the wheel.  But I did it.

There was one gentleman that made me extremely nervous, though.  He came into my office one day, chewing on a tooth pick, as he turned a swivel chair around in front of my desk facing the window.  As he plopped down I thought, “Oh great, I’m being evaluated again.  I wonder if he plans on mistreating me, too, just because I’m so new.”   The entire time he sat there, I was nervously anticipating something that never happened.  Instead of being mean to me, he actually kept me company when I was alone in the office that day.  Much to my surprise, he seemed to be looking out for me by not allowing me to be by myself in the office, just in case someone came in off the street to cause me harm.

Do you know what happened as a result of that “evaluation?”  This gentleman and I became friends.  We have to work so close together as it is, so it definitely makes it more pleasant not to be at odds with each other.  We’ve invited the other to take a glimpse into our lives.  We took what could have been an uncomfortable situation and turned it into a positive working relationship.  He still teases me relentlessly now, but I give it right back to him.

Now after a year and a half, I think I have proven myself, to those that truly matter anyway.  And I’m thankful for the coworkers who have turned into great friends.