I had a conversation with a friend recently about how and what we invest our time in. This is something that has really been pressing on my heart lately. Am I making the most of every opportunity? What am I doing to intentionally love people?
In the song "More Like Love" by Ben Rector, the chorus is:
Now I just want to look more like love
This whole world is spinning crazy
And I can't quite keep up
It's the one thing around here
That we don't have quite enough of
So I just wanna look a little more like love
Throughout the song, he is essentially saying that, at the end of the day, there is one thing that matters. I think we can gather from the chorus that "thing" is love. It sounds cliche, yes, but it’s true.
Donald Miller, in "Blue Like Jazz," writes:
“I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again. God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.”
I love that he describes it as risking himself because that is what love is—a risk. It is a risk because love hurts. In some way, shape or form, we have all seen that played out. Someone leaves. Someone makes a mistake. Someone walks away. It is no easy task, but we were given that example of love on the cross. Jesus loved without abandon. He saw people for who they were and loved them with all that He could. He loved even when those who claimed to love Him turned their backs.
People hurt you. Love them anyway. People leave. Love them anyway. And yes, this is easier said than done, but we are all trying to make it through this life thing and we cannot do it on our own.
Love has brought me some of my most difficult moments. It has led me to hospital rooms and a prison cafeteria. It has brought me endless sleepless nights and lots of tears. But it has also brought me some of the most beautiful moments. It has led me to find home in people and places, to needed conversations on rooftops and bible studies in dorm rooms. All in all, it has been worth it.
I need this reminder more than anyone. All of this begs me to ask the question – what we are doing, every day, to look more like love?
Maybe love looks like doing the dishes. Maybe it looks like a coffee date with an old friend or a new one. Or it looks like sitting on a bathroom floor with someone when they are at their lowest—and entering into that with them. Whatever loving people looks like for you, do it. Go that extra mile. Make a phone call or write a note. Forgive.
I hope you love relentlessly. Even when it’s hard, as hard as you can. Because we all need it and it is so, so worth it.
