Made to be loved!!

This is what I sent my friend the other day!

   This blog started over 12 yrs ago as I made a dishcloth for a friend I gave it to her and had been to her house time after time and it sat on the counter next to her sink unused.  This was hard for me to watch as I put time and effort into making it so she could use it daily and remember it was out of love that I made it for her.  I  finally asked her why she had not used it and she said it was too pretty and she didn't want to ruin it.  I laughed and said it's like a bible it was given to us because we are to use it and its out of love that it has been passed down generation after generation for over 2000 years.  Its to look warren and water stained from the tears we cry because we realize that we are overwhelmingly loved by it.    At the beginning of June, I was given a mug made by an artist friend. I refused to use it, not wanting to damage it.  Yesterday I posted a photo of it to my friend's Facebook timeline and said remember that dishcloth I gave you I understand how you felt now with this mug.
    Do we look at the things God puts in our life this way?  Whether it is the house we live in, the beat-up car in our driveway, the kids we have or the people we work with.  God created those people with his hands with you in mind to learn how to love on them and enjoy them even in the hard things do you take the time to know them and cry over the things that made the hard people hard to deal with. Maybe you were part of the reason they are harder to deal with have you searched out your downfalls to see if you need to be asking them for forgiveness.  I once had a friend that I was struggling with and finally years down the road I sent a handwritten note to them and got the message back that they never felt that I had done what I felt I had done to them that put a huge wall up in our friendship.   I often find that when I feel this way if I sit down with the person I feel I am struggling to free myself from, and asking forgiveness of them I find they never were offended by what I thought they may be but they saw me back away and didn't know why and felt that as more offense than the action that was shortly forgiven.

The mug is loved and if it gets dinged up it means it was
used for its purpose!

       Today as I was drinking my coffee out of a mug I got years ago and thought no I just need to use the mug I got in June because it was made with hands that cared and loved making it knowing that someone would get it and enjoy it.  It's ok if it gets a chip and cracked as we all have things that shape us into who we are today. We have all been chipped at and hurt. It is the things that brought us through that matter.
    Remember that the people around you and you were made by God to be loved and love others. It's not about waiting for the other person to change but making the first step yourself.  Step up in trusting God that when you love on others they will soften to love you back.  I have seen this in some really harsh areas of life prayer is the first step and praying for those around you whether they are a loved one or your enemy or at this moment it might even seem like both. May his spirit fill you to overflowing love and peace.