Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Unconditional....

Wasn't it the coolest thing when you got your drivers license & you could drive to school on your own?  No more having to ride the bus!  It was like a 'cool pass' was handed to you & you even felt like you stood a little taller when you got out of your car.  Even if it was a 1978 Toyota Celica ... it was still cool to me, paint chips & all.

Yes... cool for me in the 80's were Risky Business dark shades... with a touch of Breakfast Club

My school was a special kind of school... I'd like to say it was for "advanced students" just to make myself sound smarter, but it was a Traditional program & different from the normal high school... and it was a good distance from home.  It would take about 30 minutes to get to it in the Downtown area.  None of the "just around the corner" for me.  So it was a different situation.  Where you have a lot of people on your street or in your neighborhood that went to the local high school down the street, there were just a handful of people that would venture to the school 30 minutes away.  So when you found some that lived near you, you developed friendships... & by friendships, I mean, you would car pool together & save on gas.  After all, 95 cents a gallon for a teenager was crazy. 

I'm old... I remember $0.95 gallon gas


But there were some people in our car pool that I developed great friendships with.  Being in this school system, you had only a select few that you went to school with so it was nice to have those friends who understood where you went & the different environment you were in.  I still am friends with some of these people.

There are a few that I totally lost touch with.  And when I say I lost touch with them, I would even loose touch with them during the summer, or even days where they didn't need a ride.

They were 'conditional friends'.  The ones that only wanted you around if it served a purpose.  In this case, it was "if you drive, I'm your friend"... don't drive to school & see how often you talk to that person.

There's people in my life now that I can tell are "conditional friends"... I have to serve a purpose for them, whether it be the funny friend, or the creative friend, or the friend that will take care of things...we all have these sort of relationships in our lives.  Sadly.

So do we take those relationship ideas & put them on God?

Do we think we have to live up to certain standards or conditions for him to want to be in a relationship with us?

Do we feel like "I have to do good all the time" - I have to make sure I don't mess up - or God may not love me, may not want anything to do with me?

I think we do get in our head the idea that we have standards we have to live up to... which, don't get me wrong, we do in a way... we have Jesus as a standard to live up to.  But we're never going to be that perfect....

& God knows that... & he loves us anyways...


I always think of Harvey Dent when I think of this now.  Here was this little stray puppy that needed a home.  We were going to foster him but we laid eyes on him & knew he was ours & from the minute we saw him, we promised we would take care of him no matter what....

Well, no matter what comes with puppy attitude.  Its full of tearing up things... constantly... it comes with puppy teeth... it comes with puppy energy.


& when Harvey messes up, he knows it.  He throws himself on the ground, rolls over & submits.  He pulls those ears back.  He'll even go put himself in his kennel & try to hide, especially when I'm picking up a kitchen full of bed stuffing.

But he ventures back out & slowly will make his way back to us & test the waters.  Walk up to us, sit, stare & see if our voices are going to be raised.  He's even came up to us when we're sitting on the ground & he'll put his head on my shoulder, or throw his paw on my lap... "Do you still love me?"...

You can tell he really wonders if he messed up enough for us to stop loving him.

We may get angry at him & upset at his actions... but we never stop loving him.
I know those of you who are parents understand this all too well.

& loving them doesn't mean there is no discipline & no correction...
love is love
& real love isn't conditional...



Just remember today, no matter what you do to mess up, you can know that you can still come back to God
.... even if you walk up to Him slowly & want to put your head on his shoulder & lay your hand out, & He'll take it & let you know that He always loves you....



5 comments:

  1. Another post that warms my heart and really makes me think and be so very grateful to know that God loves me...in spite of all my failures and shortcomings. So much peace in that.

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  2. What a great post and great reminder. Too often I live in the trying to please mode and always failing. The reminder about when our pups do bad, we still love them no matter what really puts things into perspective for me. Even when I fail to do what is right, He is always there waiting for me to come back to Him so He can let me know He loves me still and for always!

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  3. Love this! I know that I definitely have some of those "conditional" people in my life but it's nice to know that we always have a God that is there for us unconditionally, no matter what. And what do we have to do to get back to 95 cents a gallon for gas?

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  4. You ALWAYS come up with such wonderful analogies! And this one is especially moving! I definitely needed this reminder.

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  5. Yes. Exactly. Exactly this. Love the pic about love not being IF but WHEN and EVEN THOUGH. A to the men!

    Praying your Sydney has more better days. And that Harvey continues to know that despite his shameful knit-cap chewing days are in his past, they've been flung as far as the east from the west. What good doggie parents, you are!

    LOVE that gif Anthony Michael Hall. 80's girls UNITE!

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