Loving people...

I use to be ashamed of the way I loved people.

Many people didn't understand me.
They didn't think I was normal.
The ones that made me ashamed - they didn't treat people how I did.

I couldn't help it.
Loving people.
It is not like I had always been that way.
I use to distrust and dislike people very much.
But somehow, someday, it changed.

The shame I felt made me isolate myself.
I felt like there was something wrong with me.
I felt like I was misunderstood and no one would know or appreciate me for who I am.

But then I read Matthew 25:40

Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

Our relationships with people are a reflection of our relationship to Jesus.

Jesus loved a very broken version of me.
The way He loved me overcame any part of me that should have turned hard, dark, and cruel.
If I somehow have the ability to love people well - to love people in any way that reflects Jesus' love - why should I be ashamed of that?

My only hope is that others can learn to let that kind of love in.
That they would learn to love in the same way.
If I am in Christ and He is in me, then it is my duty to let Him in to every part of this world I take Him to.

Maybe I am not normal.
But I like this part of me and would rather be this version of myself more than I would ever want to be normal.

And as I love people fully, maybe they too can learn to let some unconditional love seep from themselves into this world too.