Easy vs. Hard

I would like to compare and contrast two things and show how easy it is for us as human beings to do the one and how difficult it is for us as human beings to do the other.

It is extremely easy for us to receive fear, anger, abuse, hurt, judgment, shame, guilt, insults, etc., and it is very easy for us to respond to these things. Why? Because that is what we are used to, so we know how to do it without even thinking about it. That is what we have received in life, and so we know how to respond to those things. We are very adept at these "skills".

When it becomes difficult for us as human beings, is when someone tries to love us. When people or God, try to love us, we don't know how to respond, and we don't know how to receive it. This is a skill that we are not very adept at.

How do I know this is true? Because I have seen it in my own life. I have noticed that it is soooooo easy for me to respond to fearful input and to go with it. Whenever anybody puts fear on me, or guilt, or shame, or pressure, it is the most natural thing in the world for me to accept it. It is very easy, and I am natural at it. It is very very easy for me to receive fear, believe fear, and act out of that fear. It is because that is what I have learned in this world.So it is what I am good at. What I am not good at is receiving love. Because almost every time God loves me, (which is all He can do), I watch myself get nervous, anxious, and not know how to respond. I literally get insecure and start wondering what to do, and usually try to respond in some way that I think I am supposed to. In other words, I do not know how to be loved.

The point is, this world doesn't operate on love, so it doesn't know how to love, or be loved. People learn what happens to them. People learn what happens to them over and over and over and over again. And in this world, people learn pride, fear, anger, guilt, shame, pain, abuse, manipulation, irresponsibility, etc, etc, etc. So people know how to receive and live all of that stuff. Because that is what has happened to them over and over and over again. So because love is so foreign to us, we don't know how to receive it. (Not to mention give it!)

The most important skill in life is knowing how to receive love. It is the most crucial skill necessary to being a human being, and it is the one thing that we seem to be the worst at.

There is a book out there called "The Velveteen Rabbit". This is one of the greatest books in the world, because it teaches this principle. And it is right!