Contrary to popular belief, I believe love is uncomfortable, at least at first. Ironically, we live in a culture that tells you the opposite, one that tells you to embrace things only if they feel right. In other words, avoid the awkward. The Bible gives a thorough definition of love in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and I'm always struck by the line, "Love is not self seeking". In other words, love is not selfish. Yet so often when we talk about love, the conversation tends to focus on ourselves.
If love is selfless, then love must be utterly familiar with being uncomfortable. If we are to not be self seeking, then we must embrace the awkward, that which we naturally avoid. I think of meeting someone for the first time and having that awkward conversation that we really don't want to have, asking questions that we really don't care to hear the answer to. Perhaps this is because we're obsessed with our own comfort. We tend to avoid conversations that make us uncomfortable. What if we embraced meeting new people because we were genuinely interested to hear their story? What if we became oblivious to the uncomfortable because we are more concerned with the feelings of those we're speaking to than our own?
Love walks on the edge of one's comfort zone, constantly expanding the borders to new horizons, inviting the uncomfortable to share in our comfort. Love listens well to others because she cares to hear their story. Love is constantly meeting new people because he is well aware of how many wander about in such loneliness. Love becomes familiar with the unknown because she is aware that most people never leave what they know. Love is beautiful as he cares more about you and me than he does about himself. Love embraces what you and I find to be awkward because she isn't focused on her own feelings so much as she is on others'.
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