Unconditionally

Another summer of camp has come to an end, and yet again, my eyes have been opened to the wonders of God. This was my first year of being on staff, and my role was to be the kitchen manager. Through many trails and errors I have come to love being in the kitchen! I thank God for my willingness to do what ever it is that is needed, but knowing I was stepping into this role was both exciting and scary. There is A LOT to screw up in the kitchen, believe me! Most of all I was worried that I would miss out on all the connections that were going on outside of the kitchen. But God has molded me into this strong women and has given me the amazing ability to make connections with others no matter where I am. I made some great new friends with the kitchen help, but most of all, I spent every minute I had out of the kitchen connecting with everyone else. This years theme was love, and the amount of love that flows through everyone at Camp Daniel is unconditional.
    Which brings me to the thoughts ahead...
If Gods love is unconditional, and he has taught us how to love one another, then why is there so much hurt in the world? If God chooses to love each and everyone of us UNCONDITIONALLY, then why cant we choose to love others the same way? The answer is simple.... We choose NOT to! We look around and see the homeless guy on the side of the road and think that he must have really screwed up in life to be where he is at. That if he just made better choices, he would not be homeless. We look at people with drug and alcohol addictions and think, if they stopped drinking or doing drugs all their problems would be gone. We tend to look, judge, stereo-type, assume, and sometimes even think they deserve what they got.  But what if God judged us unfairly, or assumed we would never change, or even held us to the path we choose for ourselves?? God sees the best in us. If we tried even just a little bit harder to see others the way God sees them, maybe we could understand each other a little bit more. We don't have to give a home to the homeless, or change a drug addicts ways to help others. We need to love them, walk in their shoes for a little bit, let them know that there is a happy ending. Tell them that God loves them unconditionally and wants to be their strength when they don't have any of their own.
    When we as Christians turn the other way to those around us who seem "different" than we are, it is only sending them the message that God does not love all. Is it not our job to show others God's love? How are we going to do this if we pick and choose who we think is worthy of it? My hope is that we will all see each other as equals someday. And that God's glory would shine through everything that I do. It is time to start treating others with the only kind of love that God knows... unconditional. Stand up for each other and make a difference in someones life, if not your own.