Love
The longer I live, the more I am convinced, Love is all that matters. We so desperately want to make this life about rules and check list, the wealth we can acquire even the knowledge or education we can rack up, but at the end of the day it’s LOVE.
I scrolled past a meme today that said “The only things you can take with you when you leave this world are the things you’ve packed inside the heart.” How much more true could that be? All the possessions and “things” of this world will never remain with us. It’s just stuff and stuff breaks, fades away, and gets lost. Love last forever.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 states “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
All the riches in the world are lost when you pass away. All the great thoughts, and books you have written or read are no longer of use. What remains behind is the Love you shared, the Love you gave. I think most would agree and find it quite simple to express this day in and day out with the ones they love, their children, their spouses, close friends and even acquaintances. Here in these words I would challenge you to go further than those closest to your heart. What about the lady at the grocery store that rings up your items for the week? What about the homeless man sleeping under the bridge? Even harder what about the guy that flips you off in traffic? Can you leave your Love stamp with those strangers? The bible tells a story that is very familiar to many of us, the story of the “Good Samaritan” Told in Luke 10:30-37 “Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. “And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. “Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. “On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Now there are reasons, some would say good reasons, the Priest couldn’t stop and the Levite I suppose like lots of us had his reasons as well. Yet the Samaritan who would have been an enemy to the this class of people is the one who stops. You see it’s not those that are easy to love that make the difference in our experiences here on this planet…it’s the ones that aren’t easy — the boss we don’t like, the jerk in the parking lot the woman who has betrayed our friendship.
Many times I try to play a game with myself…just in my own head as I go through my day…how much Joy and Love can I spread? Can I remain calm and pray for the guy or girl who cuts me off in traffic? The girl I have to wait on to cross the road? Have you ever thought what’s their journey? Another meme I like says “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about, be kind, Always.” My boys just started back to school this morning and on the way to school each morning I try to say a few words, a devotional of sorts,
and then we pray. Today I reminded them that every odd or unpopular child may be fighting horrors at home that they know nothing about. That they may be being abused or having to go through a divorce of their parents and yes they may be suicidal, and the choice to be mean may be the last choice you have with that person, and the choice to be kind could very well change their lives. We always end the prayer like this “May the light of Christ shine in us, and through us, and to those around us, especially those that need Love.”
Whose life can you change today? Tomorrow? or the next? Because stuff…you can’t take it with you but the Love you gave will live on forever.
#LoveOneAnother
Love,
Cameron
Episcopal Lotus Flower in Bloom 