Not Optional
Not optional.
A lesson learned in how to love and why it's important to love. When I opened the Bible of a spiritual family patriarch and read the words, I felt chills down my spine. Geary was no longer physically with us, but he left a legacy behind.
It’s not always easy to love, is it? When we are busy, stressed, or running behind, we often become short-tempered or irritable. Lacking love and kindness because life gets the best of us. It’s easy to get caught up in our daily routines and neglect a few extra moments to help someone along the way. (If you don’t, kudos.) I get that we don’t always want to extend love in certain circumstances either. There are times when we’ve been hurt, times when we’ve been wronged, or times when we have been left behind or left out.
Over the past few years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what Geary wrote: “Not optional.” He wrote it next to these verses.
John 13:34-35 NKJV
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.
How do we love when it's not easy?
How do we spread kindness in a world full of hate?
How do we choose to stand against the crowd and focus always on the positive?
How do we keep showing up when we don’t have the right attitude?
LOVE.
We can do a lot in life, but we cannot do anything well without love. The world most certainly needs it. Our communities and homes thrive on love. Our jobs are less stressful when we operate out of an attitude of love.
Being kind isn’t hard. We don’t need a four-year degree or material assets to live with kindness. Being present where we are is a good place to start. We have to be present in the moments around us, not spending precious waking seconds always mindlessly checking out and scrolling through social media, unaware of the world around us. There is so much we could risk missing out on.
The mom who desperately tries to juggle her children safely inside a store when it's pouring down rain, and she doesn’t have an extra hand to easily open the door.
The neighbor sitting by himself night after night could use a visit to cheer him up.
The man at the grocery store who barely has enough money to cover the bare essentials.
The family behind you in the drive-thru, you don’t know it, but they just left the hospital, saying good-bye to their loved one so unexpectedly.
The point is, everywhere we go, we can see evidence of people needing love. Needing kindness. We can live lives of grateful people who are willing to be used by God. Geary was right - living a life of love is not optional.
Living with love doesn’t mean we have to agree with everyone about everything. There will be people with views and beliefs different from yours. Choose to extend love rather than hate. There’s already enough of that out there. Accepting others and choosing to love sends a far greater message than trying to convince them to believe as you do. We can still love even if we do not agree.
God made us all uniquely and precisely. It’s okay if we pronounce words differently, prefer one restaurant over another, or classify ourselves as members of a different political party. The Bible doesn’t specify anything other than to love well.
This doesn’t mean we accept wrong behavior or give up healthy boundaries. The Bible clearly speaks on those topics well. Jesus said to extend love, and then others will know we love Jesus.
We don’t speak Jesus to others through large amounts of money or material assets. We don’t speak Jesus with our social media posts, openly putting others down. We speak Jesus by loving others well and seeking to build them up in every way. Be mindful as you go out and about this week. Let’s be a community of people seeking to love others well.
Geary lived a life marked by love. He lived a life with such devotion to God that he spoke about God everywhere he went. Geary taught me what it meant to love those around you with no excuses. He lived with dedication to his family, friends, church, and commitments. Geary loved without expecting anything in return.
A few years have passed now since we had to say see you later to Geary so unexpectedly. He is missed so much. Our comfort rests in the Hope of Heaven. I want to live a life marked by love. It’s not optional.
