1 Peter 4:8

Above all, be fervent in your love, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

I'm trying to listen to this verse. Matters of the heart are trying. We have to work on all relationships. Whether romantic or otherwise. And, truth be told, I want that job. In order to love, we have to love ourselves. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Loving ourselves can be the most difficult, demanding, fretful job that could be handed out. At least to me. I am a work in progress. In progress is the phrase we all should focus on. No one perfect, but all yearning for something that feels very difficult. I need to recondition, refurbish, and redirect energy into loving me, and loving others. Not for who they are, what they look like, or what they do for us, but just love them. Even when the tough gets going, and unfortuantely, the tough gets going quite a bit in this life.

For one thing, not everyone can understand or respect your choices. So I have to make that choice, to be lucid enough to grasp that I am not alien race. Just a person, flesh and blood full of pride. Just like any other being on the earth. And I, desire to love and be loved.

I pray to be able to love everyone better. To have the knowledge to love B. To have the knowledge to love my family and friends. And to even have the knowledge to love strangers.

And it's a hard job. That I suppose is the beauty of loving. We have to put it all on the line. Hope. Put on the old clothes and pull up our sleeves in those seasons where it all seems to be too much. That's when we have to love. We may have to give more in order to get more. We may have to give more and not get any thing in return. That's love. We may have to swallow our pride, huimble ourselves in order to make our love work. We may be afraid. We may be concerned that we may not be good enough, but we are. We are all worth a hard days (nights, weekends, lifelong) work. It can be hard to see through the denial we live in. It can be hard to see the forest for the trees, but we have to. In order to love and to make all relationships work. We may want to be married and to live the life we desire, but we may have to wait and work for it. We may not ever want to be married or to cohabitate with someone else and sharing those awful HARD times, but that closes us off to love. What is refreshing though, is we have a choice to do so.

Let's choose love. Let's dig deep. Let us not condemn each other for wanting to love each other and ourselves. Let us make a choice that might make a real difference in other's lives.

You have to fight Dear Girl. In the name of Love and all that it offers. You have to take real steps and say not to fear. No matter what the fear is. You could lose what is precious. Wasting time of being afraid obviously has not been ideal for you. Fear, has held you back. Taken you hostage and enjoyed feasting on you entirely too much. You, loveley, have to stop. Yuo, have to go back to a Place of acceptance. At this point you have to say goodbye to hose roads of hating and begrudging yourself and not accepting who you are. And, who you are, is beautiful. Say Goodbye to those ugly words that have made you believe the worst lies a liar could tell. Say Goodbye. Pack their bags and don't be sorry to see them leave. Remember, I love you Dear Girl.