May 15, 2020
How My Pre-teen daughter Taught Me to Love Better.
My daughter’s a pre-teen woman-child. Let me tell you there´s been crying, tantrums, kicking, screaming and sometimes Rachel was upset too. I have to admit, I´m not ready to let her become a woman yet, so as I´ve tried to hold on to her I noticed something. Rachel loves animals!
It’s a Cat Thing
Who doesn’t loves Koalas, penguins, bush babies? Lets face it, on a scale of 1–10 for cute there at least a 20. Then there are cats, the second most popular house pet in America; although with cats I´m not exactly sure who’s the pet.
Rachel is obsessed with cats, don´t even think about touching her cat blanket. She sleeps with stuffed cats; she´s plastered all our computers with cat pictures and wallpaper.
Ask her what she wants for her birthday and she´ll answer a cat, for Christmas — a cat; for dinner — she´ll say, lasagna (Were you worried?) now remember Garfield the cat loves lasagna so it´s still a cat thing.
Loving like God
With Rachel it´s not just cats, she loves all animals. Show her a skunk and you´ll hear, ”It´s so cuuute, show her a hedgehog and you get it´s so cuuute show her a puffin and she´ll hug the picture and say it´s so cuuute.
We have pigeons nesting in our courtyard, the same kind pigeons you see all over big cities trashing everything, when she sees them what´s she say, you guessed it, “they´re sooo-cuuute.
One day I was thinking about how she loved not only her favorite animals but all animals pretty much the same. I was wondering how she loved them all when God whispered,
“Because she loves with my heart, that´s how I love you, that´s how I love people, that´s how I wish you’d love people!” Ouch!!!
Okay so it´s only one thing I´m learning from Rachel, but it´s how to love and that´s a really big thing! Matthew 5:46–48 says,
“If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much . . . ..”
EGR’s are Included!
We all love a little babies, puppies, and kittens, but who loves the smelly, dirty homeless person, the drunk passed out in the street, The person disfigured by horrible burns?
Who loves the unlovable mean nasty people in the world? Jesus ldoes, just the same as he loves you, if we truly follow Him we should too! Romans 5:8 makes the point clearly,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We are to love all. We all have “E.G.R.” (extra grace required people in our lives. Do you think someone else might see you or I like one?)
Romans 5:8
We’re called to love everyone, even when they don´t love us back. No, I haven´t mastered this. area, In fact, it´s one of my greatest struggles. The thing is, Love isn´t always a feeling, it´s often a conscious choice or decision.
So when you encounter those Extra Grace Required people remember God is saying, “They´re sooo cuuute” and loving them right where they are. Make an honest effort and he’ll help you do the same. For homework read the “love Chapter” 1st Corinthians 13 and once you read it go out and live it!
