Love

It was said today that our kids can only be loved as much as they love themselves, that their success can only come from within. 
As we all processed these statements we became upset because, forget that it's completely opposite from why we're here, it's completely opposite of the gospel. 
If God were waiting to love us until we loved us ourselves enough, if God were waiting to send His Son until we'd shown ourselves worthy in and of ourselves we'd still be awaiting the first coming of Messiah. We'd be waiting for something that would never come. 
Instead, in our filth, brokenness, insecurities, faults and failures God looked at us and saw worth and value, even when we could not (cannot). He sent His Son when we were unlovable, when we didn't love ourselves. With His Spirit He breathes new life into us.
I say all of that to say I've been reminded why I'm here, my focus has been reeled in. I'm here to love there kids when no one else does, when no on else cares, when no one else believes in them.
I'm here to hug, smile at, talk with, and encourage them, to say "ou kapab?" (you can) when no one else does. Ultimately I pray they see Christ in and through me. These children are beaten, bruised and broken, treated like property rather than people, told they are nothing, unwanted, stupid, worthless and will never amount to anything.
Until these children are shown love they will never know what love is; they will never know to love and respect themselves; That they are valuable because they are children of God, created in His image. Until they are loved, encouraged, and nurtured they will never be successful. 
I'm here to love. If I do nothing else, if my list of "accomplishments" and completed tasks consists of nothing but this one thing, "love. be love," then I have done the one thing God ultimately has me here to do. May I be the love of Christ to these precious children. May you be the love of God to the precious ones He has placed around you.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (MSG)