devotional inspiration .

Every once in awhile my daily emailed devotionals smack me in the face with some serious thought-provoking material, and today happened to be just one of those days! While I would love to post the whole thing, this is the part that stuck out and hit me the most:

"Love simply means treating others like you'd want to be treated. Love means putting other's needs before your own. And love means caring about your imperfect family...even when they drive you crazy."


There's always a general confusion about what love is supposed to be like. About what it means. About what it does, and how it affects your life.  For me, the love for my family has never really been there in full. Well, maybe when I was young... but I think as I grew older I began to grow farther and farther away from everyone but my brother. I recently heard that my sister was very sick, and I didn't even know. I can't exactly remember the last time I talked to my sister.

When I came back for Spain, I had a much larger appreciation for family and what it meant to have a group of people that loved you very much. My parents always make a point to say it on the phone, but I never return the words. I have always seen love as ultimate sacrifice -- to make sacrifices to bring out happiness and joy in someone else even if it means you have to give something else up. But the part about caring unconditionally about your imperfect family is so true. How could I possibly expect my family to be perfect? Everyone probably thinks that their family has issues and has this problem and that problem -- but don't we all? This concept of a utopian world with no problems or arguments is pure fallacy.

So maybe it's time that I start to see past the imperfections. Maybe it's time for me to begin to see these people who have truly sacrificed so much for me to get me to where I am today. I certainly didn't do it on my own. So thanks, Mom & Dad, even though you don't read this blog -- I've been afraid to give you the link for fear you'll judge me too harshly. But maybe it's time to.