It takes love.

God didn't call us to love people who are easy to love. There is something to be said for loving people even when they are not acting very lovable. I am in love with our kids here at Kids Alive, but it is not necessarily because they are lovable. Our kids our damaged in so many ways, and they often display the results of the damage life has given them. They come from situations of child slavery, abuse, abandonment and being told that they are not lovable. They often times rebel in ways that are frustrating to deal with and a challenge to handle. But there is an unless here. They are challenging to handle unless you remember that they are hurt, they are crying and they are begging to be loved. Maybe they say they aren’t your friend anymore, or throw a fit when you say no. Maybe they refuse to talk to you or have a temper tantrum. This is their cry for love. They have been mistreated, beaten down, abandoned and unloved for so long that sometimes it can be hard to accept that I love them, and more importantly Jesus loves them.

It can tire me out day in and day out dealing with behavior like this, but I need to refocus myself on the main idea that these kids are still so very lovable despite the feeling they have that they cannot be loved. The only way to fix this cycle is with love. With the kind of love that can be hardest  to prove, unconditional love. Allowing these kids to test and test to see exactly how unconditional your unconditional love really is. Its in the sixth tantrum of the day, or the third time a child refuses to speak to you that you begin to break down these thick walls that you cannot see. 

It doesnt take perfection but, It takes work. It takes showing up. It takes proving you are there. It takes loving. 

This is what Jesus modeled to us, and it is often the hardest type of love. We tend to shy away from the kids that are resistant to let us hold them, or don't want to come up and play with us. We instantly love the kids who hug us and bug us to push them on the swings. Jesus loved those lovable kiddos but He also loved those shy, hard to get to know kids who stay away from people as though their lives depend on it. 

It is important that we all take this time and find people in our lives that are hard to love, and just love them unconditionally. Love them when they make a snide remark, love them when they talk behind your back, love them when they send you to voicemail when you really wanted to talk. I know this is an idea that is so so much harder than it sounds. But I promise if you give it a try you will see the rewards in that person’s life as well as your own. So love other when it is easy, but more importantly love others when it is hard. Because that, is how Jesus would do it.