Love is Worth Fighting For

Lesson #2 of a Sailor Scout: Love is Worth Fighting For

Always.  Even when facing death, love is worth fighting for.  Not just in the romantic sense, but also in the sense of fighting the 'good fight'.  Now, when I refer to the 'good fight', I'm referring to the idea that God has sent all of his followers on a quest to fight in His name.  And, according to 1 John 4:16, God is Love.  Therefore, one can make the conclusion that we as followers are fighting in the name of Love (queue the music!).  It is our duty as Followers of The Way to love people, no matter what.  Yet, our selfishness says, "But that person is so awful! Look what they did. They don't deserve my love."

This is the great battle that all believers face.  We want to love others, but we're afraid of getting hurt because we know that the world has a huge sin problem.  We're afraid that if we fight for it, we'll only be rejected and get hurt.  Chances are, you will.  But that doesn't mean you should ever give up.  Love is always worth fighting for (I feel a cheesy illustration coming on).  Serena never gave up on Darien when he broke up with her (anddddd there it is).  She kept putting herself out there, only to get hurt for a good portion for the 1st and 2nd season.  But love triumphed in the end.  Now, I'm not saying love wins all the time (We all should know this from personal experience), but I would rather put myself out there (again, not just talking romantically) than give up and regret it.

I know that in order to be loved in return, I need to put myself out there.  But love is not always returned with love.  Many times, it's returned with pain.  Talking about this always reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Joy Dawson: "You only hurt as much as you love..."  I've hurt a lot, but I've also been numb a lot. I allow numbness to over take me because I'm scared of the pain.  However, when I go numb there isn't much room for love either.  I lose either way.  When thinking about it, I would much rather feel pain than nothing at all.  That way, I know I at least made an effort.  As a Scout, it's something I'm still working on. I don't like to draw attention to myself and loving others very openly can call attention many times.

God has made it clear to me that I need to fight more for love.  I can't coward away because I'm scared.  I need to fight for love (and justice, but we'll get there) without being afraid of getting hurt.  Jesus puts himself out there knowing that He's going to get hurt, but He does it anyway for our sake.  The quote by Joy Dawson says in full, "You only hurt as much as you love, in which Jesus hurts the most."  What a beautiful mystery God is.  He never fails to awe me.  Thank you for fighting for me.

~Sailor Star Defender (Alyssa)