A few weeks ago, I posted the picture above on Facebook with the following caption:
"Look, Mamaw! We have a new friend. His name is Caterpillar."
Bella has a "thing" for insects right now. It's probably because, with no playmates her age in the neighborhood, and with only four boring adults around, the bugs are little, cute, and she has power over them. My little one seems to have no squeamishness or fear of any of them, alive or dead, though she seems to display the appropriate amount of caution around bees and other stinging things that fly. However, there was a startled reaction when a click beetle did his little "flip and snap" in her hand.
I don't have the same affinity for these creatures, though I can appreciate the beauty and grace of a butterfly or the look of a cute ladybug. As far as I am concerned, I keep my distance from anything with more than four legs. I am quite picky about my bug associations.
Bella doesn't care if the bugs are ugly or scary-looking. They don't have to measure up to any particular standard for her to enjoy their company. They don't even have to be living! They are all her friends, and they fascinate her.
She is the same way with people. She'll walk up to random people and ask, "What your name is? My name is Bella, and this is my mamaw and my papaw and my mommy and my daddy." Though we are trying to teach her to be careful around people she doesn't know, at this point in her life, she doesn't know a stranger. People are delighted with her attention and usually share a name with her. Bella wants to love everything and everybody - regardless.
God is the same way with people. He loves all of us - regardless. We don't have to look right, act right, or think right to deserve His love, though He'll make the right changes in us when we turn our lives over to Him. Not only that, but He expects us to love each other without conditions. We can't limit ourselves to the beautiful and graceful. He really did mean for us to love even those who curse His name, who are hateful to others, who celebrate sin, who oppose all that is good.
I've had a little difficulty with that expectation lately. So much is happening in our world, and I see hate and violence and division everywhere I look - at least in the media. There are leaders whose rhetoric seems to come from the very pit of hell, and I have to remind myself that God loves them too. In my own little world, though I love my family members very much, there are moments when it's not all beauty and grace around here either. Sometimes we bite or sting or startle each other in word or deed. Loving someone is not a feeling, it's a choice. I must pray for those who are spouting evil and violence. I must remember that I can be ugly too, and that I must give grace to those who are not gracious to me.
Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:44.
" But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
It's a tall order, but it's a directive from Jesus Himself and not just a friendly suggestion. When you and I pray, we can't restrict our petitions for blessings to just ourselves and those who please us at the moment. We must be praying for and loving all - even the unloveable.
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