Love is the first-mentioned characteristic of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is given to us freely and abundantly, as long as we keep on giving it away, freely and abundantly.

Image by Ingo Jakubke from Pixabay

But if we feel that smiles, thank you’s and kind words are too precious to be squandered unless we receive them first from others, we are apt to be love-starved.

What we read in others is often a reflection of what they read in us. If we have our guard up, unwilling to make the first move in being friendly, people will read us as being unfriendly and unapproachable and back off. Then we will believe our suspicions have been vindicated and label those people as unfriendly.

If we take the opposite approach, freely sharing smiles, heartfelt thanks and kind words and actions, not everyone will respond in kind. But we have lost nothing in giving, the well of love in our heart will be constantly replenished.

So what if some do not respond graciously to the love offered? Love them anyway. Don’t expect to know the effect our love has on others. It wasn’t ours to begin with, it’s not our business to keep accounts. But if we give freely and abundantly of the love we receive from God, we will be often surprised by love given to us from unexpected sources.