"Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end] " (1 Corin 13.8). Awards and 'stuff' collect dust and have no eternal value, whereas every individual is as valuable as you think YOU are. Let's not treat people as if they're 'stuff' too, for surely when our lives pass away the only thing that really counts for anything is how we treated people. If you love the people in your world with everything you have ... even when it hurts, if you truly embrace forgiveness and seek to give to others, not ‘get’ from others - then you have achieved ultimate success. Don't be so hard on yourself if you don't have shelves stacked full with stuff - because people are the prize. May our capacity to love and give continue to expand until we take our final breaths!
Now this doesn’t mean it’s wrong to have dreams to achieve all we can with our talents – (indeed it would be wrong not to), but just not at the cost of others. Our determination should always be out of a desire to bless others with the talents we’ve been given. If you invest all your time and energy into the pursuit of stuff and none of it into people - you might die with a full bank balance but your heart will be empty. (If we never give to others, then we’ll never receive from others). Also, there’s the problem of trying to ‘climb the ladder’ at the cost of standing on people on the way up - eventually the ladder will fall down at some point because no one will actually want to hold it for you when you reach the top.
The same can be said about investing all our energy into maintaining the outside, but neglect to invest into developing our souls. Society seems to tell us (or rather scream at us), that if every inch of us isn’t nipped, tucked, polished, plumped and rebuilt (to which there is no end!) then we’re not at our finest! Well all that may make us appear attractive on the outside to some extent, but if no effort goes into ‘beautifying our souls’, then our neglected heart is going to be pretty ugly. Sadly it’s our hearts that are our most attractive asset – but get the least attention from ourselves.
You might not like the way your heart looks now, maybe life has been cruel to it and it’s hardened in retaliation or survival, but our hearts are mouldable and can be remade. Your heart can become all that you want it to be, you have the capacity to love far beyond that which you currently think you can. BUT it takes effort, a bit of ‘weeding’ may be necessary (says one rather experienced in ‘weeding’ - I love the definition of weeding “to remove wild plants from a place where they are not wanted” indeed those weeds have no business taking root in your heart in the first place). However, most of all you have to be willing to risk above what you fear (that’s the hard part!). But it’s always worth the cost because "love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end] indeed it is the only constant in life of which the value never diminishes, and is surely worth fighting for above anything else. Do not surrender your heart to fear, because when you do you revoke your capacity to love and by doing so … miss out on love.
PS: The ‘’LOVE DISCLAIMER”: please don’t miss the point and assume that by my referral to ‘love’ I mean ‘romantic feelings’. Indeed if you are fortunate enough to have a spouse then yes, love them with everything you have, do not take them for granted, count it an honour that they offer you their heart and always determine to reveal more of yours. But please don’t think that ‘romantic love’ is the ultimate definition of love. Sadly a lot of people think the sum total of love = 2 (these same people usually find themselves incredibly disillusioned later in life). Indeed the world is made up of a much larger population than just little pockets of two - the world’s need for love goes far beyond that equation. Love, although undeniably impossible to define, is ultimately to be an extension of ourselves given in which we don’t seek to receive in return. ‘Romantic love’ unfortunately can be the most confusing love of all as rarely is it selfless in nature and is often abusive in its desire to take. Though the same fundamentals still apply – seek to give and you’ll receive, but seek to take and you’ll destroy.
Now this doesn’t mean it’s wrong to have dreams to achieve all we can with our talents – (indeed it would be wrong not to), but just not at the cost of others. Our determination should always be out of a desire to bless others with the talents we’ve been given. If you invest all your time and energy into the pursuit of stuff and none of it into people - you might die with a full bank balance but your heart will be empty. (If we never give to others, then we’ll never receive from others). Also, there’s the problem of trying to ‘climb the ladder’ at the cost of standing on people on the way up - eventually the ladder will fall down at some point because no one will actually want to hold it for you when you reach the top.
The same can be said about investing all our energy into maintaining the outside, but neglect to invest into developing our souls. Society seems to tell us (or rather scream at us), that if every inch of us isn’t nipped, tucked, polished, plumped and rebuilt (to which there is no end!) then we’re not at our finest! Well all that may make us appear attractive on the outside to some extent, but if no effort goes into ‘beautifying our souls’, then our neglected heart is going to be pretty ugly. Sadly it’s our hearts that are our most attractive asset – but get the least attention from ourselves.
You might not like the way your heart looks now, maybe life has been cruel to it and it’s hardened in retaliation or survival, but our hearts are mouldable and can be remade. Your heart can become all that you want it to be, you have the capacity to love far beyond that which you currently think you can. BUT it takes effort, a bit of ‘weeding’ may be necessary (says one rather experienced in ‘weeding’ - I love the definition of weeding “to remove wild plants from a place where they are not wanted” indeed those weeds have no business taking root in your heart in the first place). However, most of all you have to be willing to risk above what you fear (that’s the hard part!). But it’s always worth the cost because "love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end] indeed it is the only constant in life of which the value never diminishes, and is surely worth fighting for above anything else. Do not surrender your heart to fear, because when you do you revoke your capacity to love and by doing so … miss out on love.
PS: The ‘’LOVE DISCLAIMER”: please don’t miss the point and assume that by my referral to ‘love’ I mean ‘romantic feelings’. Indeed if you are fortunate enough to have a spouse then yes, love them with everything you have, do not take them for granted, count it an honour that they offer you their heart and always determine to reveal more of yours. But please don’t think that ‘romantic love’ is the ultimate definition of love. Sadly a lot of people think the sum total of love = 2 (these same people usually find themselves incredibly disillusioned later in life). Indeed the world is made up of a much larger population than just little pockets of two - the world’s need for love goes far beyond that equation. Love, although undeniably impossible to define, is ultimately to be an extension of ourselves given in which we don’t seek to receive in return. ‘Romantic love’ unfortunately can be the most confusing love of all as rarely is it selfless in nature and is often abusive in its desire to take. Though the same fundamentals still apply – seek to give and you’ll receive, but seek to take and you’ll destroy.
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