Broken Love

I was talking to a buddy of mine today about love. He was telling me how his little sister is only 13 and she is falling in "love" left and right. I don't know the extent to her boy craze, but it sure does bring me back to when I was her age. When I was that age every guy I "dated" was the guy for me; or so I thought. It is so funny, yet sad, to look back and remember how in "love" I was with these boys. I was convinced of my love. Now that I am older and am an expert at love, (HA! NOT REALLY) I see how little I did know. When I look at love even today, I see how little I know. Yes, I know a little bit more than I did back then, but recently I got out of a three and half year relationship with somebody. The more that I look at God's love, I see how little I loved this guy. It breaks my heart to know that I was in a relationship with him for so long and called him my best friend yet didn't love him as a sister in Christ. I thought that I was loving him and pointing out his sin, but when I think about it, I wasn't loving him, I was loving myself. Yea I pointed out his sin, but only to make me happy. If something annoyed me, of course I am going to point it out. It's so hard to remember that first you must die to your own sin and love others before yourself. I shouldn't have been pointing out his sin for my gratification, but so that he may grow in his relationship with the Lord. I try my hardest to love people around me, and no matter how hard I try, it is still broken love that is pale in comparison to God's love for us. The only way that I can learn how to love others is by looking at God's love for us in sacrificing His one and only son. Am I really ready to sacrifice what is most precious to me for somebody else? I am still learning much about love and I know that I will continue to learn until I am brought home some day. Please pray for me to have a thirst for God and a thirst to be Christ-like in my day-to-day life.