Courageous Love

I recently read a post on one of the blogs I follow and the comment I wanted to make was so long that I decided I should probably do a post on my own blog instead...so here we are.

Her post was about friendship. It was about getting burned. I think we have all been there. I always say that I can handle a friendship until DRAMA enters the picture. I don't want any drama, don't need any drama in my life. I had all of that I could have possibly wanted back in 4th grade. Now, I'm a grown-up. I like friendships that are easy. I like friendships that I don't really have to think about to maintain. They are self-sufficient. I tend to hold onto these friendships and run from the others. Unfortunately, my method is flawed.

This is a passage I came across in the book Why It's Hard to Love Jesus, by J. Stowell:

Courageous love enables us to be vulnerable. At times when we open ourselves to love we get hurt. It's easy to swear off love and commit to never go there again. We question whether we can become vulnerable again. We wonder if we are willing to open up once more because we love Christ. We ask ourselves if we can trust Him to protect, defend, and reward our love for Him.Do we love Him enough to be taken advantage of for His sake? After all, we need to remember that He was willing to love us with that kind of courageous, self-denying resolve all the way to the cross.

That pretty much says it all.