a swirling idea

I was sitting in church the other night, enjoying the pleasant breeze that drifts through the open rafters above the lit up auditorium of a holy space, when it dawned on me that love is a choice.

this seems obvious, basic to the most elementary of schools. however, somehow in my mind I was caught up in this idea that love was something God did in me, and that the more time that passed in my life, the more God would come in and do His life in me. In essence, I thought I would be off the hook. I was looking for the easy way out.

This past week I got to host my second retreat group, a lovely bunch of high school girls from Magnificat in Ohio. They were a joy, bursting with the excitement and curiosity and passion that our elders gladly smile upon to see coming up as tomorrow´s leaders.

Our reflection one night asked the question of where we see the face of Christ, and although my head swirled with images of smilling children and neighbors in Ecuador, my heart lept back to the country I left behind, where a host of people live without knowing anything about Ecuador, about this hidden part of the world that I happily stumbled into.

It can be easy to see Christ in the poor. They are the ones who know what is important in life. They are the ones who cling to God, who give what they have to others without ever counting the cost, who love without limit and without exception. They are the face of Christ to me.

But in thinking on the person of Jesus, this weak man who came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, I realized that His love was for everyone. everywhere. He gave us the hardest commandments of all, to love one another; to see Him in EVERYONE, even our enemies. Not just those who are easy to see Him in.

Going home will be hard for me in a lot of ways that I can´t explain, maybe can´t even imagine. I suspect that this creepy and sneaky little thing called self-righteousness will crawl up in me, that I will be very tempted to judge those who have much, knowing the people I loved and left have so little. But I think that what Christ calls us to most, is to see HIM in the brokeness and pain and sin of others. I think He calls us to see Him where we are least likely to expect Him.


I have 5 weeks left in this glorious place of love, where people are accepted for who they are and embraced with open arms. I pray that God will channel, in all His power, the love that I have experienced here into something that sticks with me and spreads to others.



Love is a choice. One that we make everyday, for ourselves and for those around us. I pray that today you experience the freedom to choose love, and to know that its the only thing that matters.