Thank you for loving me first...

I learned early on about agape love, the kind of love that overlooks faults and covers your past as if it hasn't happened with a caveat not to repeat it. I've known this love for myself since I was 6 years old when I took that long walk down the aisle to the front of the church to give my heart to the Lord. My love walk is my daily struggle, especially with those I have identified as selfish. Today's course of events have challenged me in several ways. They have made me more conscious of others, yet to take better care of myself. It reminded me again that I do not live in a vacuum, that my life is to share with others, and that how I take care of myself determines what others are able to get from me. Most of all, today I was reminded of the type of love that compelled me to the altar at 6 years old. The type of love that sees the mess you are, the faults you possess, and the embarrassment and shame of sin on your countenance and says still "it's ok." If you're like me, you lack confidence in your walk when there are things that you know you should have/could have done better. There are times when my acceptance of guilt for things gone wrong has paralyzed me with the enemies' thoughts of unworthiness. Isn't it a blessing, however, that love even removes the sting of guilt and shame and restores your confidence and boldness, not in your own actions, but in the promises contained in the Word, like Jeremiah 29, that this is "a future and a hope" despite where you've been. I learned that type of love first exhibited through my parents, then when I accepted Christ as my own, and most recently from a friend I have come to love. To be loved right where you are is the best feeling, affirmation in the world. Not that you don't strive to be better, but that you are enough, just because. I wish this type of love to be experienced by all. So to Love I say thank you for loving me first...showing me how its done...