Loving Hard...

Loving regardless

Never giving up

Never losing faith

Always hopeful

Enduring through every circumstance

Loving people that are too hard to love…the unloveable

A conscious choice

Mourning with those who mourn

Rejoicing with those who rejoice

Being with, not doing – enjoying presence, not accomplishment or success

‘We were meant to be Lovers, bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we are called home.’

How it looks for me to ‘love hard’ daily…

Serving our volunteers in patience

Awaiting the day in expectation of what may come, not of what I have planned

Greeting my Ugandan friends and co-workers with a smile and a genuine desire to know how they are and how their family is

Patience as I travel on public transport – in heat, humidity, traffic, delays, stares, lack of personal space…

Getting one thing accomplished when ten were on the list to be done

Hugging and playing with children who have seen and experienced more suffering in their 8 years than I’ll ever see in my lifetime

Trying to find a tension of loving these children with all of me, yet not so much that they feel abandoned yet again when I leave

Choosing to not give money or resources sometimes because it will aid dependency rather than promote sustainability

Choosing to give some shillings to the beggar on the street

Praying for a friend that is hiding because she feels ashamed of something she’s done – not turning away from her, writing her off, because she made a bad choice

Holding the tension of protecting myself and caring for the strangers I meet along my way

Remembering that everyone has a deeper story than I know, not judging by appearance or first, second, or even hundredth impression

Clinging to glimpses of joy instead of dark clouds of despair

Hoping

Loving Good

Seeking Peace

Comforting those who are broken

Being open to their comfort expressed to me as well

Wish I could say this is how I look every day – but its most definitely not! Only what I aspire & hope to…aim high, right? Love Hard.