Don’t hold back – Pray for Ft. Lauderdale

MargaretJanuary 9, 2017

Hello Lovelies,

Margaret here. Over the past few months I have really been working on myself; how I treat my family, making more time for them, my dedication to God, my friends, and my time management. The other day, however, something changed. While I sat, awkward and nervous at my Freshman Orientation, just 15 minutes away from my home people were dying at a shooting in my local airport. One minute my biggest worry was “Which classes will I take” and the next it was “Are my family and friends safe?” If I’ve learned anything, it’s that there is nothing on this earth more humbling than the reminder of death. Any moment anything can change. Tomorrow is not promised. So I felt compelled to write this post as a charge.

Love. Love fully, truly, deeply, unconditionally, boldly, bravely, and as though you have only this moment to love. Cherish the people in your life. Things are things, and they’re great, but they don’t last. We throw clothes away, upgrade phones, sell books, use up makeup, but people, people are rare. You can’t go to the store and replace a person. You can’t order one on amazon. You can try and replace them but no two people are the same. No heart beats with the same rhythm.

God promises us an eternity with Him, but so many people in passing do not know God. They don’t know Jesus, His gift, His sacrifice, His grace, His LOVE. Life is too short for us to not love everyone we encounter, because tomorrow could be the day that person is taken from this earth, maybe without ever hearing the gospel. Life is too short not to love all we encounter because life is hard and unfair. It’s horrible at times, stressful, destructive, sickening, and sad. And if we continuously focus on superficial things, petty fights, and temporary glimpses of our past, we’re wasting valuable time and effort that could be spent loving everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Despite gender, beliefs, differences, we are called to love. We are not called to just love our church family or Christians. Not people of only our race. Not people who are just like us, but EVERYONE. The bag boy at Publix, the man begging on the street, the criminal, the victim, the stoner, the heartbreaker, our enemies, our friends, and every other living, breathing, wonderful creation of God roaming this earth. Following God’s commands are difficult, but loving is easy. In fact loving is simple. It’s a matter of humbling yourself and allowing yourself to extinguish any prejudice or judgment.

Life is too short to discriminate. To hate. To not pour out every single ounce of love you have into life.