I spent the last week camping with 80(ish) jr.high and high school kids and twenty-something counselors. It was genuinely wonderful. and it kept me on my toes and on my guard (spiritually,emotionally and even physically).. I gleaned some lessons to share..
The first that comes to mind is on loving your friends as Christ would love them.
A list of what it doesn't look like would seem obvious, but I guess I learned more as I watched what it does look like..
Primarily, it is forgiving and trusting.
Forgiving because it overlooks wrongs, poor or less-than-willing attitudes and mannnny short comings. It disregards and forgets the petty, catty and underhanded. In return to these it offers kindness and trust.
At least that's what I saw in my friends and those whom I respect and appreciate throughout the week.
Kindness has always been such a hard thing for my sarcastic, type-A, get things done personality. It's sometimes a struggle for me to share even a smile when I am being wronged or disappointed. and yet the Word says that God shows us His mercy in His vast kindness of sending Christ to the cross. dang. THAT is our example of kindness.
I know this seems redundant or reoccurring.. but I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep our lives centered on the Gospel.
If I live believing that I undeservingly have received the kindness God offered to me in Christ, can it truly be so hard to smile at a stranger, or go out of my comfort zone, or planned path to extend a minuscule of kindness to another?
And trust. Love believes all things, bears all things- that caliber of love does not fail. Loving your friends requires that you trust them. That you trust when they say " i forgive you" that they will no longer hold a grudge toward you. Trust that as you confide in them they are listening. Trust that God has placed them into your life in a specific season for a purpose.
Of all people, you wouldn't expect that your friends would be hard to love. But, are you loving them like Christ loves?
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