Galatians 5:6b

“The only thing that counts is faith expressed through love.”

And I laughed out loud when I read this, how pertinent can it get? :

Galatians 5 : 13-15

” You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

So too is the power of resurrection. Our lives are a continuous pattern of small deaths and the power of resurrection.

Love is.

I’m now wondering when Jesus said, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself, love your enemy” whether it could be that implicit in that commandment is not so much an order, but Jesus giving us permission to Love. As in, you know, it’s okay to love and accept yourself as you are, it’s okay to love your neighbours and accept them as they are, and it’s even okay to love your enemy and accept your enemy. There is nothing you have to feel guilty about, you don’t need to be afraid. It’s okay … God can take whatever you throw at him. No expectations, no choices, unconditional. I love my children. I don’t choose to love my children, I don’t love them only when they meet certain of my expectations. Sure I’d like them to be upstanding, lovely, insightful, caring people, and sure there are times when I’m not happy about their behaviour and want to lay down the law, that’s just normal, but I don’t know how to not love my children …

You see, it’s different in the other aspects of our lives, we are given a bunch of mixed messages … watch out for that wolf – it bites, watch out for that guy, be careful of those people, you can’t associate with that crowd, you can’t behave like that and expect to be our friend, keep a lid on that shadow, be true to yourself, be loyal only to the people with whom you associate … and oh, be nice … We perpetuate these messages within and amongst ourselves … and then Jesus comes along and says … Hey Guys! Chill out! It’s okay to Love … No need to cut that guy’s ear off on my account, no need … Father, I am hurting, this reality – right now – is unbearable. It will pass in time. Father, forgive them (for my sake) (for their sake) they don’t know what they are doing …

The universe has a way of pushing back when things get too far out of wack, too much in one direction or in the other direction, but there’s no timeline. It can sometimes take years for the pendulum to swing one way or the other way. It seems it is the swinging of the pendulum that gives life it’s energy.

An act of love could be one which takes away the guilt ….not necessarily the responsibility, … the guilt. It seems Love doesn’t hide from the reality of what is happening right now or what happened in the past, or pretend that things will be different in the forseeable future … When Jesus came back from the tomb it seems it was love that brought him back … it wasn’t paranoia, it wasn’t even pronoia that brought him back … You see, when you take everything away, strip everything away, the only thing that is left is Love. And Love accepts all these things. Love just is …