Love is the Basis of All Community

It’s hard to form a community with someone

you are judging,

you are afraid of or don’t trust,

you don’t know anything about,

you don’t agree with on basic issues,

you don’t like,

and probably many more reasons.

As Jesus says in His Two Great Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” First, we have to learn to love God with all of ourselves; then, we are able to learn to love ourselves and our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. These steps will take us pretty far down the road of love that following Jesus Christ takes us.

He is even more detailed when He outlines in the Sermon on the Mount the issues within us that keep us from loving anyone:

“Let your light shine before others,” (Matt. 5:16)

“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you…first go and be reconciled to them.” (Matt.5:23-4)

“Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away for the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matt. 5:39-42)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”(Matt. 5:43-45)

“If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”(Matt.6:14)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.”(Matt.7:1-2)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?…First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”(Matt.7:3-5)

This is probably the hardest part of what God asks of us, to love everyone no matter how they treat us or what they have done in their lives. It’s hard enough for us to love ourselves. Only God can show us the way to love ourselves and others as we give our lives to Him and allow Him to teach us, step by step, how to live life in His presence. The amazing thing is that, as we walk with Him, allowing God to lead us in every part of our lives, over time we will begin to see and experience the rising of Fruit of the Spirit(Galatians 5:22-23) within us: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Humility. We can pray about all these wonderful qualities, but only God can heal the parts of ourselves that harbor judgment, fear, rejection, fear, and all the challenges of our lives and the horrors we may have endured that cause us to opt for separating ourselves from any harm that we fear. As this healing progresses, we will begin to feel those fruit of the Spirit rising in us. It’s amazing when it happens!

As we follow God, we are on our way to the freedom that comes from loving everyone we meet, regardless of what we may see in them. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we can see them as children of God as described in Genesis 1:27. Each person we meet is a child of God, created by Him in His image and worthy of His love and our own. Now, of course, we can’t actively show every one of 8 billion people in this world our love. But, in defining our purpose as we were created by Him, He is showing us who it is we are to love and in what ways we are to serve them, in addition to all the people we ”just happen” to meet along our lifelong journey.

God has given us the path to the fulfillment of our lives through acting out our purpose in our lives. I can write this blog post, not out of a belief system that I’ve been taught, but out of my own life experience. I was a fearful person just trying to belong everywhere I went until the Lord called me in my early 40’s. I don’t even remember how I came to say, “Yes!” to Him, but from that moment on I came crashing down to earth with this thought: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me!” So, my first step on the journey was to list all the “gods” I put before God. And from then on, I have been led on a fascinating and very healing journey starting with reading some of the saints of the church and learning about Buddism, Taoism and Hinduism.

Then later I heard that the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame CA were training lay people in spiritual direction. I ran to sign up. So, I’ve now been a spiritual director for 23 years. The first 10 years were spent working with individuals in California and then in North Carolina where I moved to be close to my daughter and her 4 children in 2008. Starting then, I wrote a weekly blog post, titled By the Waters, on Facebook and later turned to writing books from the lens of a spiritual director: how do I, how do we, live this life in Christ? My life has been so fulfilling, so purposeful since I became a spiritual director. Your purpose is just waiting for you to run with it and to feel fulfillment as you’ve never experienced it! It was given to you at your creation/your birth by God!

As we celebrate Jesus’ birth and all that He taught us then and now, let us remember why He came here to Earth and all that He taught us while he was here. And then, maybe we’ll remember that He is always with us, whether we know it or not, showing us the same love that He always taught. All we have to do is pay attention to Him!