Love Comes.

"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully, when you dare to be vulnerable. To love at all is to be vulnerable. ~ C.S. Lewis

Okay. So first of all, I think we can all agree that C.S. Lewis was an insanely incredible man. His unique views and rare takes on life always leave me challenging my own thoughts and perceptions on this strange world. I am indeed a strong advocate for this man and think that everyone sometime in their life should read at least one C.S. Lewis book. Man, to have a mind like his..........

One could easily assume that the quote above is talking about two lovers, and while I don't disagree with that, I certainly don't think that two lovers is all this quote is limited to. I see so much more within those three sentences. I see myself and my daily struggle of loving people with genuine intention. Loving people is hard sometimes and there are definitely people that are hard to love. It's something that I triumph in and it's something that I fail in, much more the latter unfortunately. But I try, because I believe everyone deserves love.

My deepest desire is that my love be REAL & GENUINE, reaching out to the ones who are walking along side me, and just as important, the ones who are not. This is never an easy standard for me to live up to though because I have been instilled with fear each time someone has not accepted my love. I have learned that loving passionately doesn't always mean that you will be passionately loved back and that is a hard thing. C.S. Lewis challenges us with the idea that love will come when we focus more on reaching out to someone simply because they deserve it, rather than focusing on their reactions (good or bad) towards us after extending our hearts to them. He thrives on the idea that love will come when we choose to take the risk of truly revealing our hearts to someone even if it means that we will experience hurt. He even suggests that we should be okay with this, this reality that we may get hurt. But he reveals to us that through all of this love will come...

..And I think he is right, love will come. Reflecting on the past brings me to this realization that LOVE COMES, always. I know that when I have loved out of the deepest part of my heart, a C.S. Lewis kind of love, I am always blessed from it even if the person on the recieveing end isn't or doesn't seem to show it. Loving people, though it can be very challenging sometimes, brings joy to my heart. It doesn't matter that I don't always feel loved in return, and though that can be hard sometimes, I can only hope that I had a positive influence in someone's life, even if for a moment. People do come around, it can take time, but sometimes there are stories of redemption, and that's what keeps me going. Everyone deserves to love and be loved and if by God's love He continues to give me the strength to keep on loving out of a genuine place, I will...because love comes, it truly does come.