There are certain people on this earth I just know that God loves a lot. Yes - He loves everyone. But in my life, I have felt an extraordinary pull toward specific people that I know He just loves. He wants them. They are special and gifted and would be the absolute best version of themselves with Him.
I swing back and forth between excitement and anxiety for these friends... Sometimes I feel like we are on the verge of something grand and miraculous. I have this vision they are on the edge of a cliff, so close to stepping off and free-falling into God's grace. And other times I feel like I see them take two steps back from the edge. More than two steps. Sometimes it feels like they are miles away.
Sometimes I wish I could just push them off the cliff myself, you know?
But here the Lord reminds me of His gentleness and patience. And how completely not up to me it is to compel them to believe there is Someone to catch them once they fall. So we walk them back to the edge, praying they are even closer than before.
When they turn and run in fear - we walk them back. When the world distracts them - we walk them back. When they have nothing left and are crying out for something more from this life - we walk them back.
Love is patient. I always thought of that phrase in terms of patiently waiting for your roommate to get ready when you were ready an hour ago, but somehow I don't think that's all that the Lord meant it to mean.
I'm learning that love is patient - whether that's romantic or platonic - for its season.
That's hard. And yet the Lord is never anxious, always patient for the day each of His children come back to Him. I want to be more like Him. With each step I take, each hand I hold - I pray it would be filled with more grace and gentleness and patience than before.
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