I assume good intentions
& sometimes get burned
But it’s better to try than
To spend a life assuming
The worst & not believing
In love.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I assume the worst. Maybe it’s a self-protective mechanism based on fear. Fear of being rejected or left out. Fear of losing friends. Fear that people will run away once they get to know me. Sometimes, those things do happen. I am misunderstood and left out. But sometimes, it works out.
I can love others, even though there is pain involved. It’s not ideal, fraught with challenges, unknowns, grief, and loss. Yet also on this journey, I find others who are like-minded and love back. I find those who are like me, searching for belonging like myself. We all want to belong. We all want to be loved.
Our fears have roots. If we aren’t growing in soil that’s being fed a message of truth and love, then we can’t grow back love. Our growth will be stunted or thorny, and that is what those around us will get from us: thorns.
It struck me one day to ask myself if I believe God also has good intentions toward me. Truly, does He? Because admittedly, sometimes I’m not sure. Is God love? Does He intend good for me? In these verses, the word “love” is mentioned 29 times. So I’m asking myself this question: What is love and what does it mean to me? Who do I think God is? Did love come from God? If not, where did it come from? What does God want to give me and what does He want me to give to others?
The specifics will be different for each one of us, but the one thing that we will have in common is love. It’s hard to love. But, I’d rather people remember me for love than the opposite.
I’d rather live my life assuming the best, that people do have good intentions and want my good more than they don’t. To live any other way is exhausting and lonely. I know that a few people will take advantage of that. I know that the fear of getting hurt is real. Believing this doesn’t take away the reality, but not living from a place of love is a life of poverty.
For reflection:
When you think of the potential cost in loving others (as God has loved us), what promises of God can you count on to sustain you through this effort?
by Prasanta Verma Anumolu
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