Loving The Hell Out of Them

Throwback Thursday 

Adapted from Loving The Hell Out Of Them…2.1.16

 

I have a friend who works with at-risk teenage girls. Last week, one of the girls pushed her and started to run away. Sadly, this isn’t abnormal behavior for girls who haven’t learned how to form healthy boundaries or how properly to communicate thoughts and feelings. The staff members who work with the girls know the risks involved with the work and are trained in proper restraints and mediation techniques. Even so, it’s hard to be pushed and it’s a helpless feeling to watch someone run away—literally. Yet as the organization’s main supervisor likes to say: The staff is loving the hell out of the girls. 

 

The hell.

The loneliness. Worthlessness. Betrayal. Rage.

The fears. Neglect. Abandonment. Doubts.

The abuse. Molestation. Bullying. Deep anger.

The learning difficulties. Helplessness. Aggravation. Anxiety.

The hell.

 

And so it goes with everyone in the helping professions, especially those who profess Christ. If we believe that God loves us all—Me. You. Family. Friends. At-risk teenage girls and elementary school boys. The people who bother us most, whether we know them personally or not—and we embrace common humanity, then we know that there is a battle between good and evil but that Christ has won the ultimate victory for us all. 

 

Oh, there there are obstacles in embracing this truth. 

There are those who doubt God. 

There are those who push God away. 

“Where is God?” They wonder. “God certainly doesn’t seem to be helping me,” they say. 

 

But if we, God’s people, show up.

If we try. 

If we demonstrate the love of Christ through 

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, 

Then we are doing our part to fight against evil. 

We are doing our part to show that Love wins. 

 

True, we may not win the war. 

The war is much bigger than us. 

But we can win individual battles, 

Day in and day out, 

Helping to free people from our individual hells of 

All that tries to damn us to shame. 

 

Through steady presence and resolve, 

Through the love of Christ alone, 

May we love the hell out of one another today. 

 

Amen.