Lately I’ve been thinking of how often the Bible recounts Jesus saying, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” I really do think that’s the real commandment from the New Testament, and it’s what I personally feel is what it means to be a Christian. Love one another. The rest is just ways to explore and express that fundamental duty to Love.
Today I was thinking about how it’s been pointed out that Jesus doesn’t say, “love others as you love yourself”, but love others “as I love you”. I find that a very important point. The stories of Jesus paint the picture of a very deeply loving person who embraced the essential pricelessness of each human being, regardless of who they were or what they’d done. It was a gentle, giving love, with no end to its warmth and depth.
We don’t always know how to love ourselves properly. We judge ourselves too harshly, and feel our faults and failings too keenly. Because of this, it can be hard to have pure love for others, because we can only feel toward others feelings that we already have in our own hearts.
So as I go through my day, I try to keep my eyes and heart open to the signs of divine Love. I try to feel that sense of unconditional acceptance and treasuring that is our birthright, given to us freely without the possibility of becoming unworthy. I try to hold that in my heart, and allow myself to accept its warmth, its comfort. In this way, I have a feeling of sincere caring that I can then share with those around me, to the extent they are open to receive it.
And I’ll tell you, the more I’ve practiced, the more I’ve found others’ hearts opening to that possibility of being something more than they’d allowed themselves to believe. I’m telling you this because with the path you’re now walking, this practice here may help you reach those around you a little better. Maybe not in the way you’d expected, but probably in exactly the way they need. So seldom do we get to see what our time in others’ lives has left them with, that it can be a real test of faith in the idea that we’ve done our part well, and leave the rest up to powers greater than we.
Love you muchly,
~ Nyn
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