Love

Ever since God brought Horizon into my life, I have been engulfed by the concept of loving people. Christ said basically "Love God and love people" (paraphrased of course). Sounds simple but those of us who are trying daily to do those two "simple" things know otherwise. Meeting people where they are, loving them for what they are, no matter who they are is what Horizon does. I have been fortunate to be a part of this church and to be discipled by someone who does these three things very well. Clay Carver loves people like no one I know. I remember a story he told once where his response to a friends gut renching confession of sin was "I never thought you were perfect and I love you just as much now as I did before we talked" Man, that revolutionized my thinking. To not let the sin in someones life surprise you and love them where they are.
Anyway...I guess the reason I say all this is that I want to love people the way Christ did. That is really hard to do and I would venture to say darn near impossible. How do we love those that take advantage of us or get under our skin. How do we love those that lie to us or try to hurt us. I know recently that Mark talked of loving your enemies for one of the Sunday Morning talks. Ok, but what if they really aren't my enemies. Maybe they just need help, I can't help them and they won't get it for themselves. I pray for them and ask to see these people through the Lord's eyes but it is so hard to know what that looks like. Do I confront, do I accept, do I cry with, do I pray with, do I show my hurt, do I give up and allow others more fitting to love and love from afar.
I have conquered alot of physical , mental, emotional and spiritual trials in my 27 years of life but I have to say that figuring out how to love people and actually loving them in a way where they feel and sense that love is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. Some harder than others of course but still hard none-the-less.