A man once said, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’. That’s so true. It seems funny that we have ever-changing technology and increasing capacity to communicate and connect with people all over they world, yet we so relationally challenged. I’ve come to find out that we live in a world that really doesn’t know how to be married, have a friend, or do anything that requires getting along.

We seem to deal with so much tragedy and drama. We don’t love or trust because it seems so many of us have been wounded. We deal with abandonment, betrayal, and abuse, so we pull into this little cocoon with the idea that ‘I touch no one, and no one touches me’. From the perceived place of safety we let people only so close, until the inevitable happens- they don’t live up to our expectations. So we push them away, and say, ‘Well, that’s what I expected to happen’. We remain isolated from the real life that God has given, using up our time but failing to really live. Then, should we ever decided to peek our head out of our cocoon, the cycle begins again…round and round we go.

Hurt, disappointments and betrayals…they are a part of living in this fallen world. But they are only a part of life, and not the whole thing. Jesus said that He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10); however, we go through our lives living in this controlled environment, trying to keep our lives emotionally manageable while protecting ourselves.

There’s a generation waiting to receive the love you didn’t get. Trust and love people, and they will hurt you and disappoint you – but trust and love them anyway. God put me on a planet full of people who need Him, and they need you to be the expression of Him. We will never be without hurt, but we must love anyway.

I refuse to live in a world so small that there’s only room for me. So yes, I get hurt. People disappoint me and desert me, but I’m going to let God love through me because people are worth it.