How Love Makes a Difference
Today I was thinking about love. I just finished playing tennis and love was my score too often for my enjoyment. For you non- tennis playing folks, love means zero.
Sometimes in life, we can feel like a zero. When those times happen, we must remember that we are children of a God who loves us unconditionally. Forgiving ourselves for mistakes is sometimes as difficult as believing that a God could really love us despite our imperfections.
For all of us, especially teenagers, when we don’t feel lovable we often make decisions which are not good for us. Life can easily become a downward spiral. When I was volunteering with about 15 people from my parish yesterday, I was reminded of that reality by a brief witness talk given by a 16 year old boy. He was telling a group of inner-city children how his belief in a loving God changed his life for the better.
He shared how during his middle school years his friends announced they didn’t believe in God, so, to fit in, he decided not to believe. His actions reflected his disbelief, and he was truly unhappy. Although he acted like a clown, he was crying on the inside. He shared how his commitment to Youth Group helped him rediscover his relationship with God, and then, things started going better in his head. He found that he was truly happy. He became more confident and more social. His feelings of love inspired him to volunteer with the children, which he announced to them, he would have never considered doing two years before.
When we believe that we are loved, all things in life are better. The bad times are more tolerable because we know we can share our pains and disappointments with a God who listens and cares for us. When we experience the good times, love magnifies our joy and inspires us to share it.
Today, I hope you feel empowered by love. May you never feel like a zero, because you are not. You are loved and lovable and able to love because God first loved you. YEA, GOD.
Peace and Love, Pam