LOVE

LOVE
Not an extreme emotion,
Not touchy-feely or happy all the time,
A decision

She sits in the corner by herself. Everyone makes fun of her. She's the smart one. She always gets the A's. Doesn't everybody know that to be cool, you need to be getting a C or lower in your classes?

She's the Christian, with nobody around her who understands her views. Nobody who cares enough to listen to why she's made a purity promise, or why she can't do things with others on Sunday mornings.

She does not wear a size zero, or even a size 6 for that matter - she wears a 13. She feels like she's huge, and that everyone is staring at her, judging her, and deciding they can't stand her. She feels as though people think of her as repulsive.

"Why would anybody care about me? I'm just the nerdy Christian girl who could stand to lose quite a few pounds. Nobody likes me, nobody even knows me."

She always thinks about other people's happiness. If the people around her are happy, she thinks she can absorb some of that happiness. Her views of other's opinions and happiness are distorted, and she feels that they are all annoyed and repulsed by her. She wonders one day if everyone would just be better off if she wasn't around anymore, but is too scared to act upon it.

She doesn't have anybody to talk to. Nobody knows the pain she feels inside. She puts a smile on, so that nobody will know. She pretends that everything is okay.

One day, she decides that she is going to attend a Christian leadership camp. As she nears the college campus where it is held, her mind floods with thoughts that she won't be good enough, that it will be a repeat of things in the past, that nobody will like her or accept her. She wonders if maybe this was all just a big mistake.

She gets out of the car, and begins to move her things into her room. One of the older girls at the camp, who had been coming for several years, approaches her, asks her name, and shows her to the room. She immediately feels welcome. She knows that she will be accepted. She begins to open up. She begins to realize what her real personality is, and it is one filled with life, energy, hope, and passion. All throughout camp, everyone around her accepts her just the way she is. She doesn't feel like she's being looked at cross-ways because of her weight. Most of the other people at camp are smarter too, so she doesn't feel like she's unwelcome due to her knowledge. All of the people are Christians, who know the struggles she's been facing, and love her.

They may never know it, but they helped to stop her from doing the unthinkable.

Love is not always a touchy-feely thing, it is not always an extreme emotion - it's a decision. The other teenagers at camp showed what love is all about. Love is reaching out to the people around you and showing that you care. Love is being willing to listen when someone has a bad day. Love is accepting people for who they are and what they stand for, and not pushing them to be something they're not.

LOVE