BELONGING'S SONG

Having a feeling of acceptance can be a truly wonderful sensation. And I think that God provided certain places where that naturally was intended to happen. Unfortunately Satan is aware of this fact so he does his best to corrupt those places.

I’m speaking of relationships. Those are the ones between families, friends, communities and nations. Jesus once spoke of the second greatest commandment after loving the Lord God with all your heart was to love your neighbor as yourself. I think we would all have to admit that hasn’t exactly been the history of humanity. It is a tragedy that falls on many levels.

Of course I am not saying new with this observation. You can find all kinds of voices to point out such a reality.

And too often it seems that because it is the nature of life I think we frequently use it as an excuse to not try. That becomes so easy to just drift into the crevice of indifference and say, “I’ll change when somebody else does.”

Complicating the process I think is the fact that in some cases if you do actually try to love you neighbor as yourself it goes without the other person reciprocating. Not that doing it should have as an ulterior motive to get, but merely stating that helping others doesn’t always translate into a reward.

Yet should that keep us from trying? I am remind I guess more than anything that regardless of what others do, God holds me accountable for my actions. I can think begin to think of the number of times when he has led me to do something that had no personal benefit. But I did it sometimes knowing this up front. Why? Simply because he asked me to.

The funny thing is that often I found myself coming to some point of calm or peace in the process instead of any feeling of being used or abused. Oh true I am human and get my feelings hurt when a kindness is greeted with indifference or a lack of gratitude, but inside God’s spirit still in time grants me peace.

It is so easy to define loving thy neighbor as thyself as the other person’s problem. And in a world gone so mad with selfish and greed there are plenty of people who will always treat any kindness towards them as license to demand more.

But it is so amazing how God has his own way of balancing the scale in ways we can’t imagine. Providing we act from a genuine heart without conditions or expectations. That includes avoiding the need to brag or impress.

I myself rejoice at the knowledge of how in heaven this won’t even be an issue. It is light in more ways that one. Including the rays of pure love that will baptize all the redeemed in a way that we will truly know how to love thy neighbor as ourselves. And to rejoice that we shall also know and end to tears and the genuine beginning to a sense of belonging that will be forever.