But the Greatest of These is Love

1 Corinthians 13:13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." Do you ever love someone so much you think your heart might burst? Or you just want to cry? I don't know, maybe I'm the only crazy one. I think that love is one of the greatest gifts God's ever given us. We are called to love everyone unconditionally; that's what He did for us. Sometimes I wonder if I love people too quickly and too intensely, but I don't think you can love someone too much. I genuinely love the people that I'm going to Africa with, and I've never even met them. We've talked on Facebook and that's it, yet I really and truly love them. I fell in love with my Alpha Gam family almost instantly. And my love for them has grown pretty intensely. What can I say... we're pretty amazing. I loved my Big before I even knew she was going to be my Big, before I even knew her name. Watching the season finale of Grey's reminded me that I'm not guaranteed a tomorrow, and that we must tell those we love how much they mean to us. I might say "I love you" too much, and I don't want it to get worn out, but when I say it, I sincerely mean it. I don't want to leave this earth without telling the ones that mean the most to me how much I love them. Sometimes I want to say, "I love you so much I want to just squeeze you until your eye-balls pop out." But that might be kinda creepy... and gross.
And then there are those that we have to choose to love... not because we want to necessarily, but because we are called to. There are some people that may get under your skin and you have to make yourself think good thoughts about them. Sometimes it's hard. It's easy to love your friends to death, but it's another story to love the people you might not be too fond of. But it's what we're called to do as followers of Jesus. He loved us ALL so much that He laid down His life for us. He did that even for the people that chose not to love Him. That is the kind of love that I want to have. I want to love every single person in my life unconditionally, even the ones I don't really like.