Puppy Love

I was extremely blessed to be given the opportunity to spend the day with some of the most amazing people in the world, alongside 8 adorable German Shepherd puppies. To be quite honest I didn't expect what I saw, but there were some incredible moments. You see, people love puppies. They are so young and helpless, and at the same time they are goofy and joyful. People treat puppies in a very different way then they treat other human beings. In the moments you are spending with these beautiful creatures you are reveling in the kisses and the affection they give you, and you are giving them love in return.
With other people we don't always do this. We say we love each other, but do we really? We ignore people, and often we forget that they need love too. We become so self-centered that we forget what were made for. We were made to love and be loved, but we cannot be loved without first loving.  When you play with puppies, you just love them without reason and often without any thought of the love you may get in return. You don't count the cost. When we love other people we often decide we can only love them if they love us, and we will only do something if they will do something for us in return, but that isn't true love. We should love everyone at every moment without thinking of ourselves.  Jesus definitely wasn't thinking about himself when he died on the cross for us, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't think His death is an act of pure love. We are called to such a deep form of love that we cannot even imagine it. Why, then, can we not find it in our hearts to love everyone with reckless abandon, like we do for puppies. Our hearts are made to love, we shouldn't ever be selfish with that love and we should be trying to find more ways to give that love to the world. It's never about what others can do for you, it's about what you can do for them. "No one has greater love then this, to lay down one's life for one's friend." (John 15:13)