Nothing feels better than when selflessness is lived out and expressed as genuine love. Why is it so difficult to love that way at all times?

It is easier to love without reservation if the reciprocation of that love is guaranteed.

How many times do we have an idea to reach out to someone but we hesitate when we aren’t sure of how the gesture might be received? Will they even care? Will they love me back?

Rejection is brutal and wreaks havoc on our confidence.

Maybe you’re one of those beautiful and rare people who love without thinking about it first. Come what may, you dive right in. It is my goal to love with that kind of crazy brave love.

There have been times when I’ve passed opportunities to reach out purely based on the risk of not receiving a reaction that says I see your heart and I accept you.

I get hung up on those times I didn’t get a positive response. The pain of rejection creates fear of rejection which creates an unwillingness to risk rejection.

I am an over-thinker and I know how a perceived slight can affect my thoughts. It can cause my insecurities to surge. So I often choose to not create a situation that will set me up for potential angst.

However, I have grown tired of depending on any approval beyond what God’s thoughts are toward me. I am so deeply loved.  You are so deeply loved. God’s love never fails, and He will never leave us.

What if I remember that truth and access His love as my diving board for loving without reservation? What if I imagine God’s response to my willingness to risk rejection in order to love sacrificially, as if he is the direct recipient of that love? What if that makes me brave?

True love is selfless and has no conditions attached. We aren’t always going to be understood or even liked, so how do we move past this to be one of those beautiful people who love first?

If I believe that rejection means I am unloveable, I will not have the courage to love others. This has been a large part of my challenge to love with transparent  generosity – to share my heart.

For the first time in my life I am beginning to see myself through the filter of God’s love for me. I am learning to value His approval above anyone else’s.

Having a tenderness in my own heart for my own heart is a brand new experience.

I pray that if you’re one of those (as I have been) who hasn’t learned to see yourself through God’s eyes, you will have the power given to you by the Spirit of God to be gracious to yourself.

May He fill us with love enough to give away freely with His love providing the solid foundation. May our legacies no longer be of our insecurities calling the shots and of self-doubt, but of love – generous, transparent, brave love.