Guarding my heart looks like... love.

 Tonight I've been writing down my thoughts concerning love and fantasy.  They stand at polar opposites of one another.  Truly loving is looking at the person in front of you, right where they are, and loving them completely in that moment.  Fantasy is the inability to be in the moment with a person.  You are always evaluating whether or not this is that "thing" (fantasy) you've been waiting for, and if they are living up to it.  So as I was writing tonight, something hit me.  I want to share it with you.  (And trust you me, I've learned all of this the hard way, but the Lord LOVES to redeem stories and make something beautiful out of them!  "There is something far more beautiful than perfection, this is my story of redemption.")

Truly loving those around us starts with wanting to love them the way the Father does.  When we see someone through the lense of the Father's love, everything changes.  When I get a small glimpse of the way my Father loves someone, I don't want to hold onto bitterness, offense, etc... towards them anymore.  I begin to see how selfish these things are in comparison to this amazingly right love.

But there is also another step.  (What is it Hannah??)  Agreeing with the way the Father loves us.  This, my friend, is humility.  Truly loving someone, starts with allowing the Father to love us, letting our walls down, and saying, "Come.  Love me here. Today."  Then, the next step is loving those around us with the same eyes the Father has for them (Matt. 22:39).  Let me tell you the secret I've learned.  This is the most fulfilling way to live!  This is the most daring, most exciting adventure to be set on.  Agreement with humility, and the heart of the Father.  Love starts with the One named. Love.  Fantasy is a rip off!  Love came that we may have life, and life abundantly.  It's time to live, friends.