Let Love In ...

If I may be so bold, I’d like to pose a couple of questions to you all, my ‘blog friends’ … they are questions, that perhaps might evoke some emotion, but they’re questions that I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on … so, here goes:

Why do you think people judge others?
Do we have the right to judge another person?
What ever happened to LOVING someone first?

I must say … I’ve been pondering these questions the past few days … I’ve found that throughout my life, personally, I’ve been a ‘judger’ so to speak … perhaps not so much consciously, but more so because I thought something should be one way and not another … or I thought I was right, while the other person was wrong … when all along, I lacked the capacity to accept that someone else had an opinion! I think this was more in my youth … when I was in middle school, into my freshmen and sophomore year in high school …when I was naive and just ‘learning’ what it all meant to have a relationship with Christ …

However, as I’ve gotten older, my focus has become, not whether someone is right or wrong, but whether they are loved or not … perhaps that sounds a little strange, but, as I’ve learned more about the ‘heart of Christ’, I’ve learned that He just LOVES us, right where we’re at … He loves us even in our darkest days … He loves us when we’re sinning … He even loves us when we turn our backs on Him … and while that breaks my heart, I realize that I lack the way He loves others, many times … I wish I could love like Christ in moments where my anger gets the better of me … or I feel a ‘judgment’ coming into thought about someone … I wish that it was easy to LOVE at all times … but that’s where our human nature interrupts and invades … yet, I pose a challenge to those out there who call themselves ‘lovers of Christ’, including myself … instead of passing judgment on someone FIRST, why don’t you try LOVING them FIRST … Love them like Christ loves them … give them grace and show mercy, just as Christ has done so many times for you and I … it might be something as simple as a smile, or maybe it would require you to take a leap of faith, but do it! Do it today, and just let LOVE in ... when you can be overcome by the love that Christ has for you, you can then become 'in love' with those around you ... even when you don't agree with their lifestyle … even when their sin blinds them … practice LOVE first …

In the Heart of the World

I’ve been thinking about Mother Theresa lately. I suppose I’ve always been fascinated with her life, her amazingly selfless life.

What a remarkable woman she was. She never wanted to be recognized, but her compassion couldn’t go unnoticed. What a TRUE woman of character and humility; what a TRUE woman of beauty and grace…

There is a book I’m reading called “In the Heart of the World”. It’s compiled with thoughts, stories, and prayers that Mother Theresa once wrote. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to read the words of such a TRUE servant of Christ; a TRUE depiction of what we ALL should strive to attain: TRUE Selflessness and Sacrifice.

The following are just a few excerpts that I can’t but help, share with you:

“We will never know how much just a simple smile will do.”

“…be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today, let us begin.”

“In the silence of the heart, God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.

“Like Jesus, we belong to the whole world, living not for ourselves, but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength.”

“Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, and seeing His hand in every happening – that is contemplation in the heart of the world.”

“Every act of love is a work of peace, no matter how small.”

“There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things.”

“Love, to be real, must cost – it must hurt – it must empty us of self.”

“I feel that we too often focus on the negative aspects of life, on what is bad. If we were more willing to see the good and the beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to transform our families. From there, we would change our next-door neighbors or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world, which hungers so much for these things.”

“There are thousands of people dying for a piece of bread. There are thousands upon thousands who die for a little bit of love. My thoughts often run to you who suffer, and I offer your sufferings, which are so great, while mine are so small. Those of you, who are sick, when things are hard, take refuge in Christ’s heart. There my own heart will find with you strength and love.”

I wonder what it would be like if we lived in a world, where ALL people saw others the way Mother Theresa did…

…the way Jesus continues to SEE each one of us? I’m amazed that He still loves us…that He still loves me…