“Write Love on Your Heart!”
As we are working on being the best we can be this year together I have broken down three ways I see the world living. One is to live a life filled with panic and anxiousness, stirred by worry and stemmed at it core from not loving oneself and trusting that each of us has a true purpose. The second being a life filled with a reflection of what we want the world to think we have and to say what we think others want to hear instead of finding ones true path. The last life lived is to love oneself and to love one another and in doing so everything else will indeed turn out right.
The facts are in folks.. we live in a world that is full of both good and evil and somewhere in between. I know it… you know it and even animals know it. Hate is a powerful thing. Hate is evil. The opposite of course of hate is to love and there is a sinister dichotomy to the ebb and flow of the universe that literally sways and lies in the arms of these two ways of life. It was when I discovered the continuum of this Hate/Love thing that I finally got it on why people make bad choices. Most of the time they are confused about only one thing….themselves. This explains the murders, the wars and the way we as humans have of walking away from each other in need and acting as if things don’t exist that are bad…
I believe that if I ever were to get the chance to sit and talk to all the people who have done really bad things, that the one thing I would find as a common denominator would be self hate. There is no other explanation for all the wrong in our world. To me this makes perfect sense. The answer to all the evil in our world is that at the deepest point in the heart of a soul something changes and in that transformation the soul has truly turned in on itself.
So one asks, How do we change it? How do we begin again with renewal of our spirit and fill ourselves with hopes and dreams and yes…. there it finally needs saying, Love? The answer is that it starts with YOU.
As we look to a new year, a new Valentine, a year filled with so much; we should feed our spirits with love. Take time for yourself to be in the moment and think on who the most important people are in your life. Are you loving them? I’m not asking you are you providing for them, disciplining them and getting along with them. Doing all of those things is what is expected. I am asking you to actively find a way that is absolutely nothing more or less a way to show them love. It is a contagious thing.
Perhaps Father Mike stated it best in a sermon I was attending over the holidays concerning rules and following a life in Christ. He explained that in the Bible there are over 700 laws and rules for us to follow… going even further the word “heart” is mentioned over 800. Father didn’t think that this was a coincidence and neither do I. The idea that one follows the law and has hate in ones heart is a fake kinda love… a Pharisee kinda love thing. God never wants us to follow a law only because failing to do so creates a consequence; rather we should as humans desire to become transformed and want to do good towards one another because it is the right and just thing to do. Father Mike explained that our spirit fills and is at home in our hearts. “Live a life that transforms you, it spreads and transforms humanity. We all desire to see a world transformed through mercy received and given, grace received and given and of course love received and given. All of these things are done by the heart in our daily lives and through our interactions with one another. The spirit lives in the heart and that is the place where Life with God begins.”
Simply put, living a life in Christ is to do so with a consciousness towards love. The road to a world filled with love starts with each of us first loving ourselves so that we can see goodness and grace and mercy and love back. If you write love on your heart, you will reflect love on others; you can not do this fully until you can love yourself and then as you give love all the rest will take care of itself. Finding your purpose and passion in life first starts with love.
Take Care of YOU!
I’ve been a part of several walks of faith. Southern Baptist and Primitive as well as Episcopalian at St. Mary’s in Raleigh as a Senior Warden on the Vestry. I currently am attending St. Catherines of Sienna and encourage you to drop by and meet Father Mike. Down to earth and what we all need more of I have found a place that we can call home and each week we are blessed to have his insightful and inspirational way of showing us how to live a life in Christ!
