Loving Hard
- Bailey Maholm
- Nov 5, 2018
- 2 min read
"Don't love too hard, you might end up getting hurt."
This is a mantra I have lived my life by ever since getting hurt in my first few years of college.
When I entered the college world I immediately put up walls. Before I even made friends I made sure to put on a mask, put up a front, and face these unfamiliar people head on.
That bit me really hard in the you-know-what.
I ended up getting really hurt, and even though most of that hurt was caused by my own self-destruction, I attributed it towards loving people.
So I stopped loving hard, because I might end up getting hurt again.
I have lived like this for years.
I have put up walls for years.
Until-
I attended the most beautiful Sacrament of Holy Matrimony I have ever had the pleasure to witness, and I received the Eucharist for the first time, with ALL of my love.
Seeing two people get married to one another with the firm belief that Jesus Christ is the one who truly deserves all of the love, and who gives it all back a hundred-fold, made my heart available to truly receive Him.
The second His perfection graced my tongue, I was in a puddle of joyful tears.
This is what love is.
This is what it's all about.
Jesus, the King of Kings, is giving us perfect love at every single moment-
we just have to be willing to give 100% of our love back at every single moment.
So, that has been my prayer this past week.
"Lord, let me love with ALL that I am.
Lord, let me love you with ALL that I am.
Lord, let me love everyone around me with ALL that I am."
Because here's the beautiful thing I've realized- when we love with EVERYTHING that we have? We can have no regrets in relationships with others, because we have done everything in our power to love them.
This doesn't mean ALWAYS throwing ourselves into relationships and being clumsy with the way we love.
This means being intentional, serious, joyful, self-sacrificial, generous, kind, and warm with every single human being we have the privilege to encounter.
Loving is hard.
It's really hard.
Just look at the example of perfect love- Christ's Crucifixion.
Loving is not easy, but we also have no reason to hold back, because loving is rewarding.
If we are supposed to be an example of His love here on earth?
Then we have to love with literally everything we've got, just as he did for us.
With ABUNDANT love,
Bailey
Comments