“And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.’” (Mt 22: 35-40)
So let me put first things first today, and let myself love God, my neighbor, and myself, before I worry about “all the law and the prophets.” Because the laws and prophecies will make no sense to me, without a healthy love for God, other human beings, and myself. Without love, all these “Yes, but’s” arise in my heart, when I’m confronted with God’s unconditional love for and faith in humanity, as expressed in the law and the prophets.
Today I can make the dignified decision to love, as God has dignified us with His love, regardless of any disappointments that I imagine He or we have had with us. I choose to love, regardless of what I get in return, because that’s The Way of our God, Who loves us, and accepts our love, above and beyond His “expectations,” as expressed in “all the law and the prophets.” Bless us today, O Lord, that we may see ourselves as You see us, – as loved and loveable.
