When Love Catches You Off Gaurd In the Best Way

I didn’t realize how deeply I am loved.

Over the past few days, people have hosted wedding showers for Yus and me. The generosity, the joy, the outpouring of love has overwhelmed me. I wasn’t prepared to receive it not because I thought people didn’t care, but because I didn’t know how much they truly do.

It has been a humbling and healing lesson in love.

1. I am loved.

2. I am loved more than I ever knew.

   
   

Loved as a verb not just words,  With presence. With a generous, abundant kind of love that feels unfamiliar in some ways.

You see, growing up I interpreted love as something you earn by doing well. Good grades. Good behavior. Achievement. Love felt tied to performance. That mindset shaped how I live and work.

While I do my best to offer others an abundant, life-giving love, it has been hard for me to believe that others might love me that same way.And yet, they do.And I have missed it...BUT wow am I so grateful to have experienced it in this season.

Shout out to my cousins, moo moo's, line dances and the best girl talk ever!

This season has reminded me of the nature of God’s love. It is not based on performance. It is rooted in presence, in grace, in the truth that we belong.

Many weddings will read from the Love Chapter 1 Corinthians 13. It's a special chapter to me since my name is derived from it (if you read the King James Version, which in general I don't recommend LOL) I read the chapter recently in the First Nations Version of the New Testament.

"Love is patient and kind. Love is never jealous. It does not brag or boast. It is not puffed up or big-headed. Love does not act in shameful ways, nor does it care only about itself. It is not hot-headed, nor does it keep track of wrongs done to it. Love is not happy with lies and injustice, but truth makes its heart glad. Love keeps walking even when carrying a heavy load. Love keeps trusting, never loses hope, and stands firm in hard times. The road of love has no end." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 

If you have ever struggled to receive love you didn’t work for, let this be your gentle reminder. You are loved. Deeply. Freely. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are.

And that is enough.

With a full heart >>>Charity