Loving people for WHO they are.

She didn’t even know how much I needed to hear it.

My friend paused mid-conversation, put her hand over mine, and said, “You know you can just rest in the fact that I like being around you, right?”

It startled me.

I had NO idea that I 1.) desperately needed to hear it and 2.) was struggling to believe it in the first place.

It’s strange how the more capable we become, the easier it is to forget that one of the deepest longings of the human heart is to know we BELONG. That we are WANTED apart from what we do or contribute.

I wonder how many of us have become so accustomed to being dependable or needed that we’ve unknowingly confused our usefulness with our worth.
We know how to show up for people. But do we know how to simply BE with them and believe that’s enough?

That’s why my friend’s words were so healing. She wasn’t thanking me for something I’d done or asking anything of me. She was reminding me that I didn’t have to earn the very thing I was already receiving.

That kind of love is literal BALM to the soul.
Especially when you’ve spent years feeling like you always need something to give.
Sometimes healing happens when someone loves us in a way that gently challenges what we believe we must do to deserve it.

I LOVE Romans 12:10 because it tells us to love each other with genuine affection and take DELIGHT in honoring one another.
DELIGHT. YES! Can we get back to that?!

Appreciation says, “I’m grateful for what you do.” Delight says, “I’m SO grateful YOU are here.”

What if we made that distinction unmistakable? What if our spouses knew we genuinely enjoyed them? Our children knew our delight wasn’t dependent on their achievements? Our friends knew they could show up empty-handed and still be welcomed?

And what if we learned to receive that love ourselves?

This is the heart of the Gospel. Before we could offer God anything, He loved us. We don’t work our way into His affection; we learn to live FROM it.

Today, tell someone what you love about WHO THEY ARE. And when someone tells you the same, resist the urge to explain why you don’t deserve it.

Let yourself be loved AND delighted in.

Sometimes that’s where healing begins🫶🏻