Entry # 8: More lessons from a six-year-old (On true love)

I've posted this quote before, but I want to revisit it again.

True love is a commitment towards imperfect people, seeking their highest good. -Pastor Peter Tanchi

About a week before Christmas, while my mom and I were trying to get some last-minute Christmas shopping done, we decided to meet up with Sarah's family. She, her dad and her brother met us in Vacaville to finish up our white elephant gift shopping together. I anticipated seeing Sarah because, due to my hectic finals schedule, I hadn't seen her in two weeks. As we drove to HomeGoods to meet them, I envisioned a reunion complete with her usual jumping up and down while saying, "Ate Aleeeeeeex!"
Long story short, instead of an enthusiastic greeting, I was ignored. She clung to her dad and didn't want to talk or say hi. It was like starting all over with her, like the first day I met her when she wouldn't talk to me. Moreover, as I observed Sarah, I noticed aspects of her character that I hadn't seen before, like the way she acted like a spoiled brat, screaming and whining to the point of temper tantrum when she didn't get her way, and the way she pretended not to hear when her dad asked her a question. I had to make a decision that night. I could "give up," so to speak, on the mentoring relationship with Sarah that I had been nurturing, or I could continue to love her even when she was being unlovable, even when she wasn't loving me back. In my mind, I was thinking, "All I have ever done for Sarah is love her and care for her. Is asking for a "Hi, Ate Alex!" or simply talking to me too much to ask?" Essentially,I was being proud. I felt like I deserved to be loved back because I had loved. But love doesn't work that way. Sometimes we have to make the (albeit difficult) decision to love people, IMPERFECT people, who don't or won't love us back not only because God has commanded us to do so, but because God has loved us in exactly that same way, unconditionally. None of us deserve love. It is only God and His grace that provided a way for us to be loved and eventually, to be able to love. My prayer is that God would fill me with His love so that I can show that love to everyone around me, whether or not they will love me back.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:8


Praise God for his love.