To truly love them

 I try to live my life as an example, by example. Pastor Dan at church calls it an "arrows pointed out" approach to life, the giving of one's self and everything one owns... Giving of my time. Giving of my experience. Giving of my friendships. Giving of money.

But then Eileen tells me a story today about a mother with a 9 week old baby who falls out of a bus and gets run over by three cars and that's the end of her life... it happened in KC this past Saturday. The same day I was riding around in a limo, eating CPC on the plaza and drinking tequila and dancing salsa until 2am....

The juxtaposition amazes me.

You only get one life, she tells me this morning. Live every day as if it's your last...

So what am I living this life for? I do have my goals. I do have my driving ambitions. To run a 10k in under 60 minutes... To lose 20 lbs. . . to have a family and a home and to travel and experience all God has to offer in this life...

To touch other people's lives...

I know this is really my calling. I've known for a long time that relationships are my passion. That the brokenhearted need love and I long to love them. The forgotten need friends. The drifters need focus. The unforgiving need someone to show them forgiveness. The self-loathers need someone to love them.

Man, we all want love. I want to love all and love well. He's given me a strange and unique calling because I am unable to judge and I easily forgive. I love without question and always look for the good. I get hurt and I always, always turn the other cheek (not always the best decision, no matter what the preachers say). Yes, I can be jealous. Yes, I can be deceiving. I'm certainly not perfect. But I know myself and my weakness. Yes, I make friends easily and I know that and rely on that and I shouldn't. Yes, I know that (for whatever reason, it's really beyond me) people gravitate towards me and love me and want to be my friend. Maybe it's just that I truly truly love them and who really does that anymore?

I wish I could dedicate my life to this. But how?