"At the moment that you fully realize that the God who loves you unconditionally loves all your fellow human beings with the same love, a new way of living opens itself to you. For you come to see with new eyes those who live beside you in this world."
Henri Nouwen, "With Open Hands"
This fits in well with yesterday's gospel (Mark 12:28-34) about loving God AND loving our fellow humans. It is a wake-up call for us to realize the very people who drive us crazy are beloved children of God...too. Picturing them in the loving embrace of God may help us to open up to their good qualities a little more. In my Joan Chittister reading for today she quotes Thomas a Kempis, who said, "Be assured that if you knew all, you would pardon all." (Joan Chittister, "The Psalms") We don't know the back-story of everyone we meet. We don't know the difficult road they may be traveling or the earnest zeal they may have for doing things. We may just know they bug us. But, as St. Mark says in yesterday's gospel, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," (Mark 12:31) and as Nouwen says here, "You will come to see with new eyes...", and Kempis also says, ..."you would pardon all," we are to give everyone love. That may seem very difficult to us today, but it is what we agreed to do when we decided to follow Christ. So, what does that look like in our day today? Love, heidi
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