Emily Honeywell

“Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15

One of my hopes for this year has been to be able to fully experience God’s love and be able to pour that out to others. I haven’t been able to figure out what that looks like, but recently this verse really struck me. These words made it clear how I can love others how they need to be loved.

What struck me is that I wasn’t doing my best at living this out. I always want to be the person that my friends will call in the middle of the night because they just need to talk. I want to be the person who will celebrate people in all the awesome things in life. Even though these are my desires, sometimes my selfishness gets in the way. I end up trying to relate to situations but talking about things in my own life. I get frustrated when I hear the same thing that they’re struggling with over and over again. What I realized was that in order to love my friends as Jesus loves, I need to get my pride out of the way and focus on the person at hand. I need to rejoice when there’s happiness and celebration. I need to weep when there’s sadness and brokenness. I also need to be okay with that fact that what I have to offer isn’t always what they need. I need to let people deal with their circumstances, good and bad, and be there if I’m who they need.

Senior year is one giant emotional roller coaster. There is happiness, job interviews, grad school acceptances, and relationship milestones. There is loss, heartbreak, job and grad school denials, and hard decisions about the next step in life. I am called to be a friend through it all. I need to put aside myself to be who Jesus needs me to be for my friends. I want these words in Romans to model how I am in my friendships. This is how I will pour God’s love into the friends around me.

This is something senior year has been teaching me, and this is what I have found in Chi Omega.

Chi O has been one of the biggest examples of sacrificial love and loyalty in my life. Chi O has brought me the best friends who have been examples of how I can live out wholehearted and unconditional love. It has provided me with the people who will listen to me cry and break down in my lowest moments. It has brought me people who will scream at the happy things and dance around the living room with me. They are here to love me where I’m at. Whether it be girls I have been close with since before Bid Day or girls I have gotten to know this semester, there is always to someone to love me wherever I am.

As my last semester in Chi O approaches way too quickly, I am reminded of the love that overflows out of every girl in this chapter. These girls have been the biggest example of love. I am thankful each day for the opportunity to love and be loved by them.

Thanks for the love, Baylor Chi O. It’s been real. I’ll miss it more than I can say, but I am grateful that this love has changed my heart for good.