Unconditional Love

I was talking to a very dear friend of mine, she is going through a very painful time in her life with divorce looming in the not so far distance.  Our conversation took me back to that time in my life when I was going through the same situation.  I remember while I was in the midst of it, I could not see the end.  It was as if there was absolutely no light at the end of that long dark tunnel I was in.  As I was trying to encourage her and give her some advice, I realized at that moment how blessed I am.  I am blessed with such an amazing husband.  A husband who loves me with his whole heart, unconditionally. 

I think it can be very easy for people, myself included, to take things you have in life for granted.  Unconditional love is not something any of us should take for granted!  Rather it is something that should be embraced and learned from.  Not everyone gives unconditional love, however I do believe that everyone is capable of it. 

We learn at an early age, in Sunday School, that God wants us to love everyone unconditionally.  I know for me that has been a challenge in life, yet over the past two years I have tried very hard to do this.  Mark has helped me in that by showing me unconditional love.  He definitely gives it to every single person who crosses his path.  As I looked up the meaning of Unconditional Love on the Internet, I found two definitions.  Well, I suppose one is a definition and the other is just, I don't know, something that struck me.  Here they are....

The meaning of unconditional love sounds simple.  Unconditional love means that you will love someone no matter what they do.  This does not mean that you do not see their faults.  You just continue loving them in spite of these faults.

And then I stumbled across this, I believe these are the unspoken words we say when we love someone unconditionally....

I love you as you are, as you seek to find your own special way to relate to the world, or the way you feel that is right for you. It is important that you are the person you want to be and not someone that I or others think you should be.


Don't get me wrong, I am not claiming that unconditional love comes easily, it doesn't in a lot of cases.  However, I do believe that it is our duty as human beings to love people.  God loves us unconditionally, and I know from my own life, that there have been countless times, and more to come I am quite certain, that I did not in any way deserve His love.  But, He loved me anyway.  So yes, it is our job to love everyone who crosses our paths, whether it be for a moment in time, or a lifetime, unconditionally.  You don't have to like everyone, but liking someone and giving them unconditional love are two very different things.  In fact, that is a favorite saying that I use, as of late I have used it quite a bit!  "I love you, but I don't like you very much right now."  When I first heard that, I couldn't understand it, but due to circumstances in my life in the past several months I have discovered what this means. 

One thing I have discovered is that loving unconditionally is very freeing!  Especially when you are giving it to people who really might not "deserve" it.  And I believe it is so freeing because that is exactly how God intended it to be given....think about it, it is the way He loves all of us, isn't it?

Seems the older I get, I am figuring these things out!  Who would have ever thought that!  But seriously now, wouldn't this world be such a happier place to dwell if we could all pass this around?  We are all people and we all have the desire to be loved, truly loved.  It really isn't too hard.  We all should stop taking things for granted, look at what we do have, right?  I did this today, I took a long hard look at my life, and here is what I discovered...

I have a loving, caring husband, I have true friends, I have amazing kids, wonderful family, a house, food on the table, clothes on my back, lights and running water...and the list goes on.  So many of us only focus on the bad, and yes, there is bad in all of our lives, but it should never take precedence in our life!