Friday, September 23, 2016

They love you for who you are

I came across this image on fb recently and the last line struck me.  The whole statement is trying to say that a friend will love you in spite of whatever is going on in your life and that they love you for "who you are".

I wonder how many people stop to think about that sentence.  That phrase is frequently used today.

 "Just love me for who I am."

"Accept me for who I am."

But do people stop to think about who they are?  What that really means?

I think that if that were actually the case, our world would look quite different.  John Paul II wrote about the unrepeatability of the human person.  The uniqueness of each and every human soul.  Each and every soul of course, being created and loved by God.

When you say you love someone for who they are, it means you are loving them without condition.  Not because they are smart, pretty, handsome, clever, hilarious, or loving.  All of those qualities can change.  All of those qualities can be usurped by someone else with more of those qualities.  Loving someone for who they are requires a permanence that is equal to the permanence and beauty of their unique eternal soul.

Furthermore, if you love someone for who they are, that means you have to know who they are.  Are they a man? Are they a woman?  Can you love them truly without acknowledging who they are? Can they love themselves?

God does this.  He sees who we truly are.  He sees more than we see ourselves.  I think so many people now are confused about who they are and confused about love.  It seems the phrase "They love you for who you are." Is a bit lost in our world, especially when it comes to marriage.

Who are you? A child of God.

Where does your worth come from? From being created in His image and being loved by Him.

So when you say love me for who I am it speaks to a greater depth of the soul.  Your deepest reality in who God created you to be.  Your qualities, your preferences, your desires, your passions.  Those will change.  You, are you.  God made you that way.  He loves you for who you are, always, eternally, boundlessly.