Thursday, May 24, 2012

Lazy Love

I used to think I was really good at loving people.  Then I realized that the fact that I thought that, proves that I don't love people well enough, and that even if I do love them, perhaps I'm not loving them always for the right reasons.

Loving others is the best thing we can do for this world, and yet I fail to really love people to the best of my ability.  It's one thing to say I love people... it's a whole different thing to actually put those words into action.

Words without action to back them are just words.  And words spoken with no action hurt people. 

I tend to do that a lot.  I know it's important to love others, and deep down I know I do.  But I'm getting lazy.

I'm really lazy with my love, and I don't like it.  That's not who I want to be, and it's definitely not who I was created to be.

So I've been trying to figure out why I'm so lax on loving other people these days, and it all points to one thing... I'M WAY TOO FOCUSED ON ME!

It seems the more I worry about myself; the more I wonder how others are viewing me; the more I focus on my problems; the more I do for myself ...... the less I think about others.  

And though I know it's good to take care of yourself, I think you can take care of yourself too much to the point that you're not only not caring for others but you're neglecting your true needs as well.  When we don't focus on others and love others, in some way that means we're not loving ourselves as well as we should.

Focusing on myself doesn't make me happy.  End of story.  There's more to my life than me, and it makes me sad to think of all the opportunities I've missed recently when I could have been pouring love into someone's life instead of drowning in my own self-pity.

I need to smile more, and not just to those I know, but to those in the market and on the street.

I need to be more willing to sacrifice what I want so others can have what they need.

I need to get back to the root of it all.  It's not all about me.  My purpose in life isn't to stand in the middle while everyone loves and adores me and takes care of me.  My purpose in life is to love others and serve.

And what a great purpose that is.