I really, genuinely can't believe how quickly this summer has gone by. (I also really, genuinely can't believe how well I am getting internet in the coop right now). Yesterday was my birthday. Two decades, ladies and gentlemen. It was an amazing day and I'm so blessed to be able to spend it surrounded by my Snowbird family. I felt really loved.
I feel like each of my last five weeks here has had a "theme" of some sorts, that has eventually plugged in to the big picture of what I am learning and how I am being shaped by being here this summer. This week was about the LOVE of Christ, and how so often I don't understand it, recieve it, or display it. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand it.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not boast. Love is not proud. Love is not rude. Love is not self-seeking. Love is not easily angered. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects. Always trusts. Always hopes. Always perseveres. (1 Cor 13)
I am, more often than I would like to admit, the opposite of all of these things. I'm about the most impatient person you'll ever meet. I have my fair share of pride. Sometimes i get mad quicker than I should. I don't always have the mindset of PROTECTING, TRUSTING, HOPING and PERSEVERING when it's not easy. But through situations that have really made me lean on the hope and love of Christ, I've realized that I give people the love I THINK they deserve, and how absolutely messed up that is.
There are going to be people in my life who are easy to love - and even then, I'm not always goin to love them in the way that Christ loves us. But even more so, I've been realizing the fallacies in my attitude towards people I don't find easy to love. God's love isn't contingent or swayed by actions, attitudes, or personalities. It doesn't matter what I've done, what I've said, who I'm friends with, how I've treated others - it's unconditional and unchangeable.
If Christ can love me despite how often I mess up, how is it so HARD to channel the love I've been given to other people. Realizing the faults in my actions is the first step to allowing Christ to work through me and change that in my life.
This note is probably not very clear, partially because it's quick and staff church starts in three minutes (Luke Lethco just informed me that I am a sinner because I am on facebook during staff church. even though it's not even staff church yet).
Altogether, I'm thankful to be here. I'm thankful for the people God has put in my life to encourage me, love me, teach me how to love others, hold me accountable, and genuinely change me, both at camp, at Clemson, and at home. And I'm not going to take that for granted these last four weeks.
