"Spirituality Is Not About Competency; It Is About Intimacy. Spirituality Is Not About Perfection; It

"Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection."

-Michael Yaconelli (Messy Spirituality)

Forgiveness is not something that the person who wronged you has to earn; it is freely given. However, trust is something that must be earned, deserved, fought for and maintained.

When you trust someone you love, you hand them your heart. In betrayal, they break it. Forgiveness allows you to take what is yours back and liberates you to move on. But by giving them your trust back, you're handing them your heart all over agan; something they have proven to be irresponsible with.

At my core, I am a loving and compassionate person who wouldn't hesitate to take a bullet for the people that I love. I feel this is one of my best qualities. That being said, God has been teaching me recently that the respect and care and consideration I give to those around me may not always be returned. Others may not care about me in the way I care about them. When I decide to put forth effort with someone, I give them everything; I give them my whole heart because I want them to feel the depth of my love for them.

I am learning that not everyone is deserving of all of me. In light of this new understanding, I will continue to embrace forgiveness and I will continue to be loving towards others, but I am no longer handing out my heart like it is nothing of value.

I am so tired of chasing and embracing people that would not and have not done the same for me. I am tired of not respecting myself enough to protect my heart. You want my love? You want my trust? Earn it.

The only thing better than reading poetry is hearing the poet read it the way it was intended to be read

Knowing most people will never care about me as much as I care about them.

Mmmmmmmmm yes, the way of the extrovert is truly quite devious.

Yeah I love manipulating my friends for my own gain, the gain is called "hanging out", obtained via such cruel tactics as "showing interest in stuff they like" and "being generally complimentary and charming"