Love first - revisited

Love first 

For me "love first" has been my lens for living since beginning seminary at LPTS in August of 2008 (I'm on the half-time-working-30-hours-per-week-at-a-church-45-minutes-from-campus-mom-of-teenage-twins-wife-of-awesome-pastor-husband-tent-making-worker plan, and hope to complete my MDiv before my children graduate from high school in May of 2013.) When I walked onto the campus as a 46-year-old woman who had been in either locally ordained or non-ordained ministry in another denomination (ABC-USA) for twenty years, I was ready to be stretched into the person I knew God was leading me to be. I also have 26 years (prior to the 20 years I just mentioned) of Southern Baptist stuff that I've been sifting through (much of it is good - some of it, misguided at best) and so facing things like a physiological spectrum of gender possibilities and the differences between gender identification and sexuality (just to name a few!) challenged me to my core to say the least. I chose in those first moments on campus to love first.

For me that means that every time I am faced with a situation, or person, or idea that challenges me (or my internalized, learned, value systems), I take a deep breath and choose to quietly and intentionally love the person connected with the challenge first.


This has allowed me the space and grace to be reshaped by God (not by an institution - but that's for another post!) and has allowed me to enter into and remain in conversation with people I love even when I don't understand or agree with them. It has allowed me to consider people first - to listen, to laugh and cry, to hurt, to share joy, to be frustrated - with people who, like me, are simply doing their own best to live their faith... well... faithfully. Of course I fail at this nearly every day, but I succeed more often than I fail (and that is the blessing.)


If you want to know more - ask. But that's the core.


Peace & Presence,


MB