Mission:Love

Names. They're our link to each other, what we think of when a face flashes across our minds. Names. Like a tick on a dog, they attach themselves to an emotion or feeling. Names. Just a couple of words can stoke a fire, open floodgates, or release joy from it's bindings. Right now one name in particular is sitting on the ledge of my thoughts. When I hear this name my mind automatically tightens up, and I close myself off to any good that may come from it. I've trained myself to not allow myself a smile when this name comes up. You see that's the funny thing about names, they don't stop with the last syllable. A name is a person. It's a personality, a being with feelings and thoughts and a heart. It makes changing what I think about someone difficult, because, unlike a name, a person cannot simply be changed or forgotten. Loving a name that I've built myself up against is hard, but loving the human behind that name is even harder. So that's my task for right now: to love. To look past the hurt and disappointment I hear when a name is brought up in conversation. To resist what I want to do and embrace what I know I should do. To block initial hate, and open my heart to what could be. To love as I have been commanded to by the guy who named my Savior.