We are all the same. We want to be loved and affirmed. We want to feel joy and engage with life. We want our lives to reflect meaning and goodness. We want to be happy. We might look different from the outside, but on the inside, we are all the same. I'll bet you agree.
We have been on this planet for thousands of years and we still have not figured this out. Look at the way we live our lives and the troubles we face. You would assume we are all so different, and that it is our skin color or culture or gender or religion or upbringing that makes us this way. We treat people we know as if we are strangers. How many people in your life do you REALLY open up to? What part of this reality is rooted in the fact that we haven’t realized our hearts desires are all the same? I'll bet your next door neighbor wants the very same things you want - way deep down.
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. I used to ask myself, "What if my neighbor doesn't want to be loved like me?" and "Isn't that kind of selfish to think I know how my neighbor should be loved?" What I was missing was that my neighbor and I want the same thing. I know how to love them because it's written deeply within me.
If we continue to lead lives of quiet desperation, waiting for someone else to reach out, or waiting for someone else to go out into the world living their truth first so that we can follow, we will never get there.
Be courageous today. Take a risk. Engage with the grocery clerk and the ticketing agent and the passerby. Congratulate and thank people. Look them in the eyes and connect with them. Tell your spouse you love them and let your hug linger a little bit longer. Hold hands with your children or grandchildren and let that touch connect you with the world around you and the privilege that we all have.
If I boil it down, the whole point of Jesus' life on earth was to say - I got this; now go help other people get it too.
So let's go out and give it away. Let's live like we mean it; for others and the truth we all share.
We have been on this planet for thousands of years and we still have not figured this out. Look at the way we live our lives and the troubles we face. You would assume we are all so different, and that it is our skin color or culture or gender or religion or upbringing that makes us this way. We treat people we know as if we are strangers. How many people in your life do you REALLY open up to? What part of this reality is rooted in the fact that we haven’t realized our hearts desires are all the same? I'll bet your next door neighbor wants the very same things you want - way deep down.
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. I used to ask myself, "What if my neighbor doesn't want to be loved like me?" and "Isn't that kind of selfish to think I know how my neighbor should be loved?" What I was missing was that my neighbor and I want the same thing. I know how to love them because it's written deeply within me.
If we continue to lead lives of quiet desperation, waiting for someone else to reach out, or waiting for someone else to go out into the world living their truth first so that we can follow, we will never get there.
Be courageous today. Take a risk. Engage with the grocery clerk and the ticketing agent and the passerby. Congratulate and thank people. Look them in the eyes and connect with them. Tell your spouse you love them and let your hug linger a little bit longer. Hold hands with your children or grandchildren and let that touch connect you with the world around you and the privilege that we all have.
If I boil it down, the whole point of Jesus' life on earth was to say - I got this; now go help other people get it too.
So let's go out and give it away. Let's live like we mean it; for others and the truth we all share.