Being Broken

So I was reminiscing about this summer and I was thinking about some of the conversations that I was privileged to have. One of those conversations was with one of my good friends who was talking to me about truly experiencing God and being able to show love to everyone. One thing that we discussed is similar to the Shawn McDonald song "Simply Nothing," in that the words of the song are "What are you man, if you do not learn love?" Basically, we were discussing how one cannot exhibit God's love until one has learned and experienced that same love. We got to talking and one thing he said is that we can never truly experience God's love until we ourselves are made humble, which is absolutely true. The one thing that would make us humble is being completely broken and brought to nothing making us rely soley on God. The latter is so true because in my life I thought I had everything lined up, and I had everything perfect, but while that seemed to be enough for me, God took them away and humbled me to the point where I had to rely and put my faith back into God and not in myself. Therefore God broke me and as He will give, He will also take away if we are not giving Him the praise.

The other thing that came to my mind while I was thinking about this was how much we actually take everything for granted. Do we truly live our lives as if today would be the last? Do we enjoy every second in the name of God? I know that I have taken many things for granted and not only life in general but I feel one of the things that we take for granted the most is definitely our friends and family. Without them you wouldn't know what to do. You wouldn't be who you are today if it wasn't for them, I know I wouldn't. How often do we take the time to truly tell our friends that we appreciate them and that God has placed them into our lives for a reason? It should be all the time. More specifically, I've come to realize how much I personally take my parents for granted. Where would I be today if I didn't have two amazing parents? I definitely wouldn't be in college right now, nor would I be who I am today. It is by God's grace that we are able to have such friends and family members that love us so much that they would do anything for us. Therefore, we should be showing them the same love that God shows us, just by allowing them to be a part of our lives. Have you ever thought about how much it means to your parents to just hug them around the neck and tell them you love them? I've thought about it a lot lately, and for all they do for me, it is the very least I can do to just show them that I appreciate them and truly love them and thank God for allowing me to have them. How are you showing God's love?