'It's all those other others that aren't so easy, neighbors --anybody who lives by you-- and so called enemies. Love neighbors as yourself. Well ok that sounds like how I'm invited to love God.
Oh and none of these are injunctions but invitations to Love. What do you think?"
"I think that the real issue is that many of us do not know what real love is.
I think we all are told we should love our neighbors as ourselves, but few of us know what it really means to love ourselves.
This is counterintuitive. On its face, it is easy to conclude that we love ourselves. But I don't think this is true.
I think this is because in our culture, we do not experience real love. We are not loved for who we really are. Most of what passes for love in our culture is conditional acceptance.As children we are rewarded and punished based on our behavior. Parents withdraw love when children do not perform in acceptable ways.
The church has adopted this thinking, too.As spouses are not loved for who we really are. Over 50% of marriages end in divorce. And more Christians than non-Christians live in loveless and unfulfilled marriages because they want to avoid divorce.
If we really knew how to love ourselves - if as children we had good examples of what real love and acceptance is, unconditional love - I think we would be better able to love our neighbors unconditionally.
If we accept ourselves for who we are, with all our faults, it would be much easier to accept others, too.I think that is where God comes in - to show us his unconditional love for us.
I think it is impossible for us to really love ourselves without experiencing God's unconditional love. Only then are we able to love others in the same way."
Karen Smith
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
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