 |
| Red Yellow Black and White, All Are Precious |
Hello everyone! I hope that if you take the time to read
this page of tiny thoughts from my tiny mind that you missed me…because I
missed you. So without wasting time…let’s begin.
Bible verse: “He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your
mind and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “You have answered
correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he
asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10: 27-29
Who is my neighbor? WHAT A GREAT QUESTION!
 |
| notice the missing finger |
Meet Laney the major (only because I got her first). You had
your crazily messed up stuffed animal that you mangled up as a childhood toy
and I had Laney my favorite baby doll (and better than your childhood toy no
doubt). Although my 25 year old self is a little freaked out by her now, 4 year
old Mallory thought there no better, more beautiful doll in the world. Best
friends we were (Yoda language), until one day, through the intense amount of
time spent together, she lost a finger and I pitched a fit. Believe it or not, my wailings made it all the way to the Easter
Bunny who heeded my plea and delivered a brand new Laney (the minor) to me on
Easter morning.
Twin Laneys?
Sweet! Now I
can take them both everywhere…. AND I DID!
But what would I have done if my mom has asked me to let go
of one of the dolls? I would have thrown a fit because both of the dolls were
MINE. Laney the minor was pretty with all 10 fingers, but Laney the major was a
deeply filled treasure chest of memories. Yes, I loved each doll in a different
way, but the bottom line is that I loved them because they were both MINE. I
was their mom and they were my twin daughters, sisters, and yes… NEIGHBORS.
 |
| We actually ARE our brother's keeper |
So seriously, who is our neighbor? What do we have in common
with the unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar races around us? Our common ground is
that we all of have the same Dad. We have all been created by the amazing
creator of the universe. We are his sons and daughters, siblings and yes…
NEIGHBORS.
No matter what we look like, where we have been, how we act,
what we do or how we treat people… God looks at us and says “Mine. That one
struggles with addiction but he is MINE. That one can’t let go of her pride but
she is MY daughter. Those are self righteous, by they are MY self righteous
children. He is homeless, a criminal, a prostitute, just plain annoying and
selfish, hurt, broken, joyful, rich, or poor. All are different. All have
different struggles. THEY ARE ALL MINE! Therefore, THEY ARE ALL EACH OTHERS!”
 |
| God's children |
 |
| Created by Your Heavenly Father |
 |
| Your sisters |
This means that we are quite literally family
and that family code applies here (you know the “I can talk about my mama but
you can’t talk about my mama “ attitude) The idea is that we have each other’s
back no matter what.
We have all heard this verse preached at church and written
on coffee mugs. I would even guess that we cradled Catholics know this verse by
heart (that and the ole John 3:16). So if that is true, then why don’t we live
it? Why is it not visible to the world that we genuinely love (not necessarily
like) EVERY one of our neighbors to the point that it is evident in our
actions? I would propose that it is because we do not in fact love our neighbor
as we love ourselves. The verse is often skimmed over, the term love is diluted
and many of us do not in fact love ourselves which leaves little room for us to
love others.
SOOO how do we regain its meaning?
What if we exchanged the word “love” for the word “focus” so
now it reads,
“ FOCUS on your
neighbor as you would FOCUS on yourself.”
Does that not shoot through our hearts a new challenge? Even
if we struggle to love ourselves we still focus on our wants, our needs, our conveniences
and much more than the needs and wants of others. Christ is calling us to take
all the energy that we use to focus on ourselves and turn it to focus on His
children, our siblings and our neighbors. That kind of attention should only
then be turned into action.
If we so choose to do this in the way to which our savior
calls us, we will be inconvenienced. We will have to face the fact that there
is stuff going on in the world to which we as Americans can easily turn a blind
eye. We will have to admit that there is more selfishness and greed in our hearts
than we want to recognize. BUT… in the midst of that there is a really cool
affect of putting this radical teaching into practice. See when we focus less
on ourselves, the obscure neighbor that we are supposed to “love” gains a face,
an identity and a story and our heavenly family begins to expand our horizon
grows. Our tiny little kingdoms that we create begin to grow and look more like
the kingdom that God created…the one that we are supposed to be working for.
