Got compared to a stripper - SCORE!!!

I had a ton of fun hanging out with an old friend last night.  She was in town for Passion and graciously skipped out on the evening session so we could have a leisurely five hour dinner last night!  I took her to Mary Mac's so she could get some real southern fare.  As we were looking over our menus, a waitress approached our table and asked, "Do people ever tell you you look like someone?"  "Ummmmm, well, yeh, I guess," I responded.  "Who?"  she asked.  As I fumbled for an answer, she piped up, "You look just like _______ (Can't remember the character) from _____ (can't remember the soap, either)."  I was kind of dumbfounded.  "Don't you know who she is?"  the waitress asked.  "Ummmm, no," I said.  "Oh, she's pretty!  She was a stripper, you know ... a pole dancer."  I said, "Thanks!  I think you just made my day."

 

Seriously?  Twas a facebook worthy status, but I just couldn't put out there for all to see that I had been compared to a stripper, but I just had to tell someone!  SCORE!!!  Maybe the pole dancing workout for me!  :0)

Ok, so that was a funny story but not really the point of what I had started to write (I had a really important lunch date to get to!)  So, let me finish my thoughts here.  As much as I'd LOVE to be the stripper soap star (ok, not really), what I would most like people to say when they look at my life is that I look like Christ (pretty sure He wasn't a pole dancer!).  That's one of the thoughts I was having when I started (and named this blog) was that I wanted to learn to "love like that ..." and I knew it wasn't gonna be easy.  The kind of love Christ has for us isn't the easy kind of love those who I like, love those who think and act like me, love those who are easy to love.

Let me go back to my FAVORITE verses (Ephesians 5:1-2) ...

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

So, in my life, what is looking like Christ/loving like Christ gonna look like?

• Not seeing people as distractions or intrusions.  
• Valuing people over the to-do list or the wish I could do list
• Being extravagant in terms of time, money, energy, encouragement and ACTING ON IT (lots of great ideas, lacking in the follow through some days)
• Being willing to sacrifice some sleep (some of you know how serious that is for me), downtime, "me" time (see a pattern here??), money, comfort (hmmmm, hard!)
• Valuing and investing in people who are not like me ... and even sometimes in people I don't especially "like" (ouch!) 
• Being intentional in what I say and do. 
• Being a little risk-taker: Taking a chance on people ... stepping out of my comfort zone .. trying something new (small group ... it's been a while since I've been in one of those NOT with college girls!)
• NOT saying everything I think or feel (especially if it is critical), not demanding "my rights"

I've been blessed to have had people who have loved me in those ways that are extravagant or even crazy ... who have gone out of their way, given out of their need (not just their abundance), been timely and real and personal ... I hope that I have learned well from you ... and from Him.  When I get to the end I want what can be said to be that I loved well and that I looked like Him (I kind of think those things are alot the same)!