it's rarely the other way around. sure, you can serve someone because you love them, but serving gets tiring, and when i get tired, i get grumpy, which means i love less, which means i serve even less. if i was only serving because i loved, then that serving would run out somewhere. if my love for others was conditional based upon how much i wanted to serve them, then over time, i loved less.
but you see, you grow in your love as you stretch yourself to serve. there have been so many instances in the past year when i didn't love at all. but as i challenged myself to still serve them the best i could as Jesus taught me, i realized that the more i stretched myself to serve them, the more i grew in my compassion and love for them.
there have been times when the people who got on my nerves the most, the people whom i thought i'd never be able to love or get along with, became friends that i deeply cared for. those friendships didn't start because they started caring for me, but because i made the conscious effort that i needed to begin somewhere. knowing the small heart i had, i even set my standards low by telling myself, "you don't even have to love them. just lend them a hand. give them a lift. just cook them a meal." i knew i couldn't even get to the point of "liking" them, much less, "loving".
but, strangely enough, as i learned to serve, my love for them grew.
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