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Let this be our ideal -- yours
and mine -- that we are more and
more becoming a lover.
Instead of what appears to be
difficult or "impossible"
--loving unconditionally --
perhaps it may work -- for you
and me -- that we start where we
are and go on to learn to love
everybody and everything. In
earlier website essays my
definition of God has been
"everything and everybody," so
now we can see what our goal is!
(Obviously I have used this
terminology as shorthand rather
than going laboriously into
defining God as the invisible
spiritual Creator of everything
and everybody.)
Needless to say -- or is it
something we really need to
emphasize? -- that everybody
includes our very own s(S)elf.
What can we expect to
experience as we work on this
project to be more loving? We may
even find more persons and more
things about life to like!
Some of the greatest advice
ever written on how to love --
and like -is what Paul writes in
Philippians 4:8:
FINALLY, BRETHREN,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE HONEST,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE JUST,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE PURE,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY,
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE OF GOOD
REPORT;
IF THERE BE ANY VIRTUE,
AND IF THERE BE ANY PRAISE,
THINK ON THESE THINGS.
You have heard this method
before - as I have - but we don't
consistently practice it: look
for things to love and like. This
is what Paul's words can help us
accomplish. If we fulfill
Philippians 4:8, we won't be
thinking negatively or critically
or hatefully about anybody or
anything!
A friend and I were talking
this week when we met in our
favorite little deli, and we
agreed that there is one more
very crucial aspect in this
formula: COMPASSION, realizing
there has to be something in need
of healing in consciousness that
causes what we tend to dislike in
our own behavior of that of
others. Proverbs 4:7 says it this
way: Wisdom is the principal
thing; therefore get wisdom: and
with all thy getting get
understanding.
Now we have the tools, let us
- you and I - use them TODAY!
Don
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