Because of Love.

Moving from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest back to the Midwest taught me a lot. A lot. It was my first time leaving home - this place so familiar and comfortable to me. Funny enough, it was both the most broken time of my life and also the most healing. Grace was a major theme. I learned grace by needing an enormous amount of it. While I was in Seattle I had to figure out what it means to have less and be ok with it. I was jobless, working with what I got there with and what little I was given while there. I wrote in my journal “I like myself when I have less stuff.” When it’s not a competition, when life isn't about consuming, it’s super beautiful. It’s hard, because naturally I want to have the most, be the most, and do the most. But that entirely misses the point of love - of Jesus. Grace was evident in so many ways - one way being that I was living with 15 other people in one house. Going from being an only child to having to share a room with two people, a bathroom with 10, and a house with 15 was such a lesson in grace, in forgiving, in loving because you see everyone in all their ways, not in spite of them. Looking back at a semester spent in Seattle to love, serve, and offer people a lighter load, I think the most prevalent reminder is this:Jesus loves us because of our hurts, flaws, and brokenness, and not in spite of them, so we too must love each other because of them. It changes the narrative when you can sit and look someone in the eye and not compare yourself to them, but realize that they are just as much a child of God as you are. So for a while, I struggled to understand what it looked like to love everyone. I mean everyone. Because no one is void of love, no one is not worthy in God’s eyes. So often I think we can decide to only love people just like us. Even if we say we want love and solidarity for everyone, how often do we live that out? When we realize this and can ask ourselves that question, we are closer to healing, to equality, to solidarity. That is how Jesus loved, and I want nothing more than to love like Jesus did. He loves us. He loves me.And we too must love - because of Him.words by Madi Houchin and photo by Cate Willis