Let Love Rule, Really

Wow.  Yes, I talk about love a lot...namely 

here http://charlotteinjogja.blogspot.com/2011/05/channeling-love.html, 

here http://charlotteinjogja.blogspot.com/2011/04/birthday-presence.html 

and here http://charlotteinjogja.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-valentines-day.html. 

I am such a sap. I mean really.  "Let Love Rule" - again? That song is one that regularly pops into my thoughts and hopefully influences my actions, as well.

Too often when we think about love, we think about it in romantic terms - maybe about a special someone with whom we'd like to spend our time, often even our lives.  Maybe we think about it in terms of how we love our children and we'd give our very lives for them - it is a powerful, motivational and sacrificial kind of love.  Perhaps when we think about love we think of our friends and how grateful we are that they are there for us, no matter what, and we for them - that's love. One of the special places in my heart is for my animals.  Don't we all love our pets?

Please accept this reflection for your consideration today.

Mother Teresa reputedly said

Intense love does not measure, it just gives

I don't believe that she was referring specifically to any of the aforementioned reflections of love, but to the bigger and harder act of loving. When you really want to "let love rule", you have to first let love rule your heart, mind and actions - and that means towards everybody and everything, not just towards those we deem worthy of adoration.

Thankfully, over the past few years I have referenced these well-known Bible verses as guidelines for living. - I believe that the following attributes refer to how Christians should behave....all the time....to everybody ... and in everything.

Corinthians 12:31 and 13:4-8; 11,13

31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

13  Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. 

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice

in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.⁷It bears all things, believes all things, 

hopes all things,endures all things. 8 Love never ends. 

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I

reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish 

ways.  ¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and 

the greatest of these is love.

Admittedly, this is most often heard during wedding ceremonies, but I'll have to say considering the state of American marriages, something is awry.  What is awry is that it is not only to our spouses that we are to offer love in this way - it is to everyone, to everything.  We are building the kingdom on earth when we share love.  As Christians, it's our job.

That is not to say that other religions are not fortified in  love, of course they are - it's what God wants all of us to do, but because I am familiar with the Christian directive, I share it here.

A friend explained something to me one day and used the following adage to make it crystal clear.  Imagine that a person asked you for water.  You pull water from a source of pain, anguish, hatred and cynicism.  Even though you willingly, and possibly with love,  gave the water, it was from a polluted source.  Imagine drawing the water from a source of non-judgement, honest and honorable speaking, compassion and humility.  Give that water with love.  Which water do you think will be better, even though both were given with the same intention?

We fool ourselves when we believe that we can selectively share love.  We cannot.

The verses in Corinthians describe how to love, specifically by detailing what is not love.  Those verses are clear.  Originally directed to the population living at Corinth, a busy Greek sea port with many houses of "worship" to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, these verses clarify how love should be shared.

In 1995, I was fortunate enough to travel to Greece and to visit the ruins of ancient Corinth.  We saw the foundations of the bathhouses, the proximity to the water and I could understand the significance of Paul's letter to the people of the church there. I am not in a position to expound upon the theological significance of this Book, but I will add that it reminds me of this awesome quote that I saw often on a sign off Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte, NC

Love people and use things

Not the other way around 

When operating from a point of love, the world changes. You HAVE to let things flow through your body...you have to transcend the obstacles of human pettiness and apply the concepts set forth in Corinthians...boyfriend do something weird and you're not sure what to make of it? Trust, hope, persevere. (That sounds like giving someone the benefit of the doubt, to me) What about the woman in the grocery store who forgets to have her produce priced before getting in line and now you have to wait on her? Not irritable or resentful...does not rejoice in wrongdoing. (You mean that we should give people a pass when they obviously do something not too bright?)  How about that neighbor who REALLY gets on your nerves? Love is not envious...or rude...or insists on its own way. (I have to talk with them to find some sort of resolution???) That sounds a lot like putting an end to childish ways...do you see how the directives of those verses can be applied everywhere in your daily life? They can, believe me.

As far as I know, Jesus didn't specify what kind of clothes I'm supposed to wear or specifically how I am supposed to behave, but I know for a fact that He said "to love God with all your heart, mind soul and body and to love your neighbor as yourself".  I would like for you to consider that your neighbor isn't just "your neighbor", but every sentient being in the world. 

None of this means that living in love is easy - if fact, it is by far one of the most challenging undertakings I've ever attempted.  My feelings get hurt, I get angry, and I'm still impatient, but what is more important is that I have the tools to love through those things and I often can.

It is hard and requires much effort...but it's also an adventure. And I love it. Really.