I serve with an orphanage in Haiti.  I love the people of Haiti, I love the culture and the language, I love the beautiful faces of those joyous children, I love the way they cherish people and foster relationships.  I go to Haiti and I don’t usually see things that need to be fixed.  There is much that is broken, if you’ve ever been you can attest with me that there is much in the way of ‘progress’ that could be done. Many disaster relief workers after the earthquake 5 years ago found it frustrating to work to assist there because the Haitian’s just didn’t see the needs the way they did.  I was told more than once that “Haitians don’t know how to take care of their stuff.”  Well that depends.  What stuff is it that you believe is worth ‘taking care of?’ They take care of relationships.  It’s where they invest.

So when I go to Haiti I don’t look to fix them but to be fixed myself.  I am eager to let them tell me and show me how to cherish relationships, how to love deeply, how to value that which is truly valuable.  And how to hold all else with a lose hand and a firm trust in our Provider.

My Haitian mantra: “I’m not going to fix them, I’m going to love them.” Some days now that seems so trite.

I find this mentality harder to do here at home.  Things need fixing, people need fixing, their situations need fixing.  Love ‘does,’ right?  In the name of love, I think I may have side-stepped love altogether.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.                                                                                               John 13:35

I think that I far too often believe that this loving of one another is mainly between believers.  When I see this playing out in the church of Acts I see new converts taking care of one another, young men making sure the old women are well fed.  I see outsiders looking in and thinking, “Man that looks nice, they really love each other, I want to be one of them.”

I recently read that the Old Testament commands love of ones neighbor one time, but there are 36 commands there to love ones enemy.

The love that draws people in is not just the love that they see us showing others in the family, it is also the love we show those who aren’t there yet.

Perhaps if I stop trying to fix people here, I’ll stop being so attentive to all that they have that needs to be fixed.  Perhaps if I stop seeing them as projects to conquer, I’ll start seeing them as children to love on.  Perhaps if I stop seeing them as evil or different or broken, I’ll find it easier to see them as searching, lost, hurting, loved, potential vessels, future housings of the Great God whom I serve.

Love is such an abused word. It is overused and undervalued.  Love isn’t something that walks out the door of our hearts when things aren’t fun anymore or when the object of our love gets too long winded or doesn’t have straight teeth. Love doesn’t say no because it might not fit in the budget or because that time slot is already taken by The Bachelor.  Love doesn’t pretend to not see because seeing just gets too complicated.  Love sees potential.  Love gets up when I’d rather sit down.  Love says I’ll love you even if you don’t appreciate or ‘deserve’ it.  Love is ready and eager to throw out the agenda — if it even came in with one.  Love needs nothing in return and loves even if you don’t ever concede to where it came from.

I feel loved today.  There have been no major breakthroughs.  I didn’t win anything and no one has waxed eloquent about my potential.  There have been no crowns passed out and no accolades extolled.  It’s been a normal day with normal activities.  But somehow God reached down into this day and simply laid it on my heart that He loves me.  And it worked.  It sunk in.  I feel it and I sense it and I know it to be true.

God didn’t need to change anything about my day to change my perception of it. He didn’t need to fix my phone or correct my theology or pay my bills. He just needed to make sure that I knew He loves me.  That is enough.

If God Himself can change my life and my day and my outlook with this simple and profound impression, why do I think that I always have to do more than that to change someone else’s? All He often needs to do is bring Himself into my day. Maybe all I need to do is the same, bring Him into someone’s day.   Love is enough.

While there is certainly a time to fix and repair and guide and get down to business, that time will never come with a stranger or friend who isn’t sure whether or not you just love him as he is to begin with.  We have to see him as valid and valuable and bearing the image of the God we find quite easy to love.  I have to stop seeing him as anything less than a future brother, a dearly loved son, and a fellow child of my eternal Father.

Teach me how, Lord.  Teach me how to lay down my agenda.  Teach me how to love the unlovable.  Teach me how to set aside my desire to fix. Teach me sincere, selfless, Christ-like love.  Teach me to see people and not problems, seekers and not sinners, opportunities and not agendas.  Teach me what love looks like and then use me to show it to others.