This afternoon I was walking through downtown Redwood City. As I strolled along, leisurely enjoying my Sunday afternoon, I heard some music being performed. I looked to the side and saw a man playing a guitar and another man playing drums.
The man playing drums is a man I've mentioned in a previous blog post. Here I'll again call him "Ed." When I first met Ed, he was homeless. Then he started staying in a homeless shelter. When I last saw him before today, it was on the front porch of the Catholic Worker House, when he was sharing with me how he had learned that one overcomes depression by slowly, daily, gradually accomplishing whatever tasks are at hand.
In this arc of improvement, when I saw Ed today, it seemed he was simply living in the moment of playing the music he could play. He was doing what he could do.
When we use the skills God has given to us, we accept who God made us to be. As we become ourselves, we praise God, for we are embracing who God intended us to be. If we welcome who God always has meant us to be, we show we appreciate what God has given to us, and thus open our hearts to God. Opening our hearts to God, we are positioned to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength.*
As we do what we can to be ourselves, we show our neighbor that we love ourselves. When we take the little steps we can take to be our true selves, we demonstrate to our neighbor that we love ourselves. Comforting our neighbor with the knowledge that we love ourselves, we love our neighbor as ourselves,** just as Jesus taught us to do.
When we become our true selves, we love ourselves, for in accepting who God made us to be, we are welcoming God into our hearts, and since God is love,*** we are welcoming love into our hearts. As we grow into who God has always meant us to be, we welcome love into our hearts.
With the love of God poured into our hearts,**** we are empowered to bring love into the world. Being our true selves, we bring love into the world.
* Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
*** 1 John 4:8,16
**** Romans 5:5
The man playing drums is a man I've mentioned in a previous blog post. Here I'll again call him "Ed." When I first met Ed, he was homeless. Then he started staying in a homeless shelter. When I last saw him before today, it was on the front porch of the Catholic Worker House, when he was sharing with me how he had learned that one overcomes depression by slowly, daily, gradually accomplishing whatever tasks are at hand.
In this arc of improvement, when I saw Ed today, it seemed he was simply living in the moment of playing the music he could play. He was doing what he could do.
When we use the skills God has given to us, we accept who God made us to be. As we become ourselves, we praise God, for we are embracing who God intended us to be. If we welcome who God always has meant us to be, we show we appreciate what God has given to us, and thus open our hearts to God. Opening our hearts to God, we are positioned to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength.*
As we do what we can to be ourselves, we show our neighbor that we love ourselves. When we take the little steps we can take to be our true selves, we demonstrate to our neighbor that we love ourselves. Comforting our neighbor with the knowledge that we love ourselves, we love our neighbor as ourselves,** just as Jesus taught us to do.
When we become our true selves, we love ourselves, for in accepting who God made us to be, we are welcoming God into our hearts, and since God is love,*** we are welcoming love into our hearts. As we grow into who God has always meant us to be, we welcome love into our hearts.
With the love of God poured into our hearts,**** we are empowered to bring love into the world. Being our true selves, we bring love into the world.
* Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
*** 1 John 4:8,16
**** Romans 5:5
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