Love, Love of other living things and people. The love Jesus showed and shared during his years with us. Just like faith, Love is an important part of being one of God’s children. With a world growing ever more violent and full of hate, we need to focus on the love of god and the love he wishes us to have and share. Hate is not the opposite of love as some may think it is the absence of love. Do not mistake hate for anger, anger is a reaction to a bad situation, hate is the lack of love and respect for another person, place or thing. In example look at when Jesus got angry at the temple due to all the money exchangers, etc. Jesus did not hate the money exchangers he was angry at them for turning the temple into a place of greed. Jesus still loved them all but was very disappointed in them for their lack of respect for God and his Temple. Jesus taught love in many ways such as turning of the other cheek, his healing of the sick and also his forgiveness for sins. His greatest expression of love was allowing himself to be persecuted, humiliated and crucified in order to give humanity salvation. We should learn from Jesus’s teachings and put aside our hate and minimize our anger as well. All humans are prone to make mistakes and sin for it is a part of our nature to do so. We should love one another regardless of sin or shortcoming. It is sin we are to dislike, not the sinner and we should focus on helping each other to overcome the sin. Shouting hateful words or trying to put another human being down because they sin is quite hypocritical since we all bear the weight of being sinful natured creatures.
The pointing out of each others sins is useless and unproductive, Instead we should focus on study of the scriptures and being loving and caring to one another. For there is no need for someone else to point out our sins, we are all already aware of them. So love one another and be supportive of one another.
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? – Mathew 7:3”
Your heart can guide you rightly and it also can lead you wrong, Temper your heart with the mind and use the heart to empower the mind. Be humble and put the ego to the back of your mind. Be compassionate and understanding so that when it is time for your judgment , you will be judged in the same manner. Be at peace with yourself so you are able to find peace with everyone and everything else. Remember life is precious and the time we have to live is short in the scheme of things. Live in love and love to live for love is the greatest power besides faith that we have been blessed with. A love with conditions is not love, it is just a complicated emotional relationship.
Forgiveness is easy to give, therefore forgive totally so both you and the one who you forgave can move forward. Forgiveness frees you from the hurt and the anger you feel and releases the one you forgive from their guilt as well. Being that life is so short I myself can not see any reason to hold on to a grudge for any length of time. It consumes way too much energy and tends to make the one who carries it unhappy and/or grumpy.
Cherish each moment you have with those you love and care about for there is no guarantee that you or they will be here tomorrow. Get off your computer, tablet and put away the game system. Get out and live life instead of hiding away in your house so much. Balance the time at home and out in the world, for you don’t want to waste time nor miss out on life since life is a short thing to experience. Most of all remember the old saying: “Life is what you make it” and then go out and make life as complete and happy as you can.
Get out and live life, live it to the fullest and do so with compassion, understanding and love.
One of the hardest tasks I have had in my life is dealing with my ego, Though it isn’t a big one it sure likes to be the center of attention and when its not it makes my day rough. I have learned to pretty much keep it check for the most part but it likes to rear its head at least once or twice a day and I have to remind myself to not allow the selfishness, self-centeredness it brings to interfere or influence my actions, words and choices.
Seems like most people I have to face down that me, myself and I syndrome. It is even harder to face it down when you are a sensitive person who gets their feelings hurt easily, though most of the time I can hide the hurt but sometimes my ego gets control and it comes to the surface in the form of bitterness or anger and sometimes sadness. Now I just turned 45 my ego is poking at my fear of aging, though it doesn’t bother me most the time it just seems when birthdays come I fall into the pit of self-pity for a day and then climb back out thinking how silly of me to be concerned with such superficial things. Vanity isn’t one of those things that bother me, so usually it is short-lived like a day or two around my birthday.
Getting older isn’t so bad if you can put aside your insecurities and don’t ponder on your mortality too much. I may look older but I still feel like I am in my early 30’s and it doesn’t matter what my physical shell looks like, it’s all about the spirit that dwells within. So now I have turned 45 I am going to put all my effort into putting my ego away in order to be the person I truly am within. Like it or not, I am who I am, at least until I become who I am to be.
May God shed some light in your darkness and pour his wisdom upon your mind and heart.
The time we have on earth is very short and limited, Time flies by so fast it seems like just a day has passed and you went from 16 to 44. The older you get the faster time seems to get, this is why we should cherish the family, friends and loves we have each moment we can. We should find the beauty in everything we can and enjoy each moment we are blessed to have in this short life. We should always express our love and show kindness to others and they should do so in return. We can only control our own lives and make choices for ourselves so we must set an example for others to follow. They may see the goodness in having a kind heart and enjoying every moment with others. Just remember that the next time you see a friend, family member or loved one it could be the last time that you might meet. Grim sounding but it is the truth of the reality we live in, no one is immortal nor do we know when our last breath is going to be until it arrives. So don’t let any chance of being happy or to be kind to others slip you by in life.
Love, Such an illusive emotion and such a powerful force. When you are within its warm embrace life is wonderful but when you wander away from it you feel the cold reality of life. Hard to find but so easily given away, impossible to capture but simply surrendered too. So many levels and so many depths, so fleeting yet so eternal. Not just a biochemical reaction and more than just a word. It is so grand you can not see its boundaries and it has no limits. So sought out and so easily took for granted. One of the greatest treasure one could find and the easiest one to give away.
Love has no prejudice, it comes to the rich, poor, powerful and the weak. Love humbles the strong and then it gives strength to the meek. Love has been blamed for the start of wars as well as bringing peace. Such a wonderful thing love can be and it still remains one of mankind’s biggest mysteries.
Love is the question and it is the answer as well.
Raymond Barbier
One Lifetime Blog 