Love One Another As I Have Loved You..

'Love one another as I have Loved you...', so says the Lord. When you hear or read these words, they seem so easy. But are they? When you start pondering on them, the word love is very complex. Much more when you factor the fact that love comes from God and when God says love one another, you are not just selecting someone you already care for. You are also suppose to love those you don't know and people that have at one time hurt or offended you. Can you really love someone when you know that doing so does not sit well with you?

In 1 John 4:8, it stated that "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." It makes a lot of sense but not on our frail human level. God's love is unconditional. We as human beings are capable of understanding only things that are tangible to us. We say we love but we don't really understand the true meaning. But the nice thing is that we have the ability to learn. It is one of the greatest gift that we ever had and it's called free will. The ability to choose.

The passage in 1 Corinthians 13 is a must read. When in doubt, I always come back and read through this passage and somehow it gets me a feeling of being lifted. I may not truly understand what love really is nor would I know what God's plan is for my life but I do know that it is okay to question Him. Ask Him why things are happening in my life and when I can't still comprehend, I go back and ask Him to help me trust Him.

If He is piloting my life, who am I to argue?

Forgiveness

To forgive means to grant pardon for an offense or a debt. It could also mean to cease feeling resentment against something or someone. It should never be confused with the word forget. A lot of people do. The saying "Forgive and Forget" is not really accurate. One can forgive but can they truly forget? Probably not especially if it was something really traumatic for the offended party. One should never forget. Forgetting opens up for the same situation to happen again. This would turn into a vicious cycle.

Forgiveness is a gift one doesn't give to anyone but to oneself. It is not an emotion but a choice. Dwelling on an issue causes resentment and resentment begets hate. Having all these negative emotions is not healthy for anyone especially to oneself. One goes down the road of loathing and becomes counter-productive.

By forgiving, one makes the conscious decision of letting go of the resentment, hate and all the other negative emotions in oneself. The offending situation or person may not deserve it but as discussed, it is a gift one give to oneself. So for those who are in this situation, one may want to think about this. The heaviness one feels being lifted off one's chest is worth it. Or just the peace of mind that follows.

Remember.. to err is human, to forgive divine.

To forget is just plain foolish.

Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.

To reach out to another is to risk involvement.

To expose your feelings is to risk showing your true self.

To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. Chained by his certitudes, he's a slave, he's forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free."

- Leo Buscaglia


I found this while trolling the web and thought I'd share this with everyone who stumbles in my little space in the net.

The Serenity Prayer

"God... Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference."

That's how the prayer goes and a lot of variations has been added to it as time goes by. Some of the variations were made to sound funny just to take the seriousness of the prayer but if you read through the verse, the whole thing really is very potent. The prayer is about surrendering to a higher power that life can be overwhelming, asking for help when everything seems lost and knowing when to ask for what.

I know I must have read this prayer a million times but I still feel in awe whenever I do. It humbles me each time I come across this prayer. It makes me realize just how vulnerable I am and that I am only human - prone to errors just like the rest of humanity. And with this knowledge, I understood the trials and pain I encounter as I go on living. That they exist to remind me that I am just like everyone else - a child of the universe.

And so with that, I want to add my variation to this prayer...

"To live one day at a time... To enjoy one moment at a time..
To accept hardships as part of the way to peace and happiness..
To trust that I may be reasonably happy in this life and the next.."

Hope

Hope is a belief that a positive outcome will come out of a situation or a circumstance. The situation can be an ordinary day to day event or it could be something major. Most often than not, people hope. Or rather people have hope. It's the saving grace that keeps people moving forward to certain circumstances in their lives no matter how traumatic or painful it may seem.

When a person say its hopeless, there is a sign of surrender on their part. But the fact that they still move about in their lives mean that there's a glimmer of hope somewhere deep in their hearts. They won't admit it and may even fail to recognize it, but it is there. It needs a little coaxing to come out and be fully recognized. As long as one breathes, there is hope. No matter what the circumstance is.

Living is hoping.