To love is to live according to his commandments: this is the commandment which you have heard since the beginning, to live a life of love.
At one time I had a bumper sticker on the back of an old car I owned. It said, ” It’s the ten commandments, not the ten suggestions.” I had people stop me on the street to compliment me and express their concurrence and joy in the sticker. I really didn’t do anything but purchase the sticker.It still makes me smile.
When Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, He wasn’t kidding. When I was a kid my parents taught me to call everyone sir and madam. When my wife, Anna, and I went to Hungary, the translation of madam caused a stir in my conversations. It the word strictly came out as a madam, the owner of a brothel. I tried to explain the difference but the women I spoke with did not get the nuance.
Our words have consequences. Sometimes they have unintended consequences. We intend to love but sometimes we fail. Just because we fail we should not stop loving. Our love is not accepted by everyone. That does not mean we should stop trying. That grumpy boss or neighbor might bite your head off on a number of tries. Be nice anyway.
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta did a parody on a poem written by someone else. She didn’t plagiarize she completed it. It was written by Kent M Keith and it was entitled the “Paradoxical Commandments”. Mother Teresa modified it and is known as “Do it Anyway”.
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive
them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some
genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest
and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy
anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your besty
anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never
between you and them anyway.
So go ahead and Love anyway.
God knows that He is not asking us to do something easy. I find it hard to pray for some of my relatives and ex-relatives. I pray for them anyway. I find it hard to like and be nice to some of my fellow employees. My mother had a philosophy that said if God put someone in your geographic area He wants us to love and take care of them. Now she never said that we have to like them but love them as God loves them.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers.Pray for the continued recovery of Pope Leo. Pray for those in Hospice. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. The impossible could and can happen. (Saint Rita) Never deny God! Pray for justice for all victims of human trafficking and immigrants! Pray for justice for our President and all government officials! Pray for Peace!
