Remember Life Is Hard, Be Patient With One Another

How very patient 

and tender

we should be with one another,

even when we're angry -

especially when we are angry

or feel another just isn't there.

It feels in the moment

of our afflicted feelings,

like we just can't endure

anymore of whatever it is.

But we truly can.

When we remember the love,

the reason God brought us together,

the special times,

the times that we 

would never have had

if we hadn't endured in love.

If that sweet and precious 

new love

that overlooked so much

and believed the best

hadn't have been there,

we'd have departed much sooner

and gave up more quickly.

Let's ever be patient 

with one another.

Life is truly difficult 

in the deepest ways

that even we have a hard time

processing or articulating.

Being a Christian 

doesn't make anything easier.

In fact, I think I've hurt more deeply

because He activated His love

in me,

to love more deeply.

With every tiny droplet 

of His love He puts in us,

we want to pour it out on others

because it is like a precious oil

and it wants to diffuse everywhere.

And with that diffusion 

also comes deeper hurt

and misunderstanding 

as the sincere love 

may be misinterpreted 

in various ways and forms.

Sometimes when the hurt 

goes very deep,

we want to hide away

and shut God out for awhile

so that you don't have to

experience His love to pour it out.

But we all know how long

that lasts before not having His love

makes us ache.

We ache if we do

and we ache if we don't.

So let's be ever so tender

with one another

because we all have 

this same thing going on.

Being vulnerable falls on deaf ears

most of the time.

But even experiencing that

makes you more compassionate

when someone courageously shares

something vulnerable with you.

The hurt experienced with God,

makes us better people -

people of substance who truly care.

I find when I don't genuinely care,

it's because I've attended 

the exuberant religious dance party

and taken some dance moves

in the limelight of human praise.

I feel more close with God

when I'm in darker times

with no one's praise

and no one's applause

and nothing on the horizon

but God.

Tender.  Gentle.  Sincere.

Patient. 

Let us be these kind with

one another.

When we are weak, truly 

His strength is made perfect in us

as we yield to His care 

in all things.