“Boy nobody even waves any more.” That was what I was thinking the other morning during my jog. “Everyone seems so ‘to-themselves’.” I watched people pass in cars and they barely even cast me a glance.
PINIMAGESo this morning, I decided I would smile wave at each car that passed regardless if they responded. (In fact, the words from the children’s movie, Madagascar, were running through my mind. “Smile and wave boys. Just smile and wave.”)
Would you believe that EVERY SINGLE PERSON waved back? A few looked at me as if they were thinking to themselves, “Do I know her?” But for the most part, people waved and smiled.
All this time I wondered how people had become so “unfriendly” and a simple act on my part changed my perspective completely.
Last night I was flipping through the channels and I saw a discussion forum with a group of people who were basically yelling over each other to get their point heard about the crisis in our nation. The problem is, no one was listening. Finally the facilitator quieted them down so a woman could make her case heard. Her argument about the recent state of affairs in our nation was so distorted and irrational it began to stir the people up once again. Her opinions spoke only of “her experience” and “her dissatisfaction with…pretty much everything.” And her words dripped with sarcasm and disgust. All of what she said was said with a tone, “I’m not happy. Now what are you gonna do about it.”
The same way my waves to passing cars brought a positive response from people, this women’s anger brought more anger.
I flipped the channel because I couldn’t take any more. My heart was sad and I was struggling to stave off the anger the lady riled up in my own heart. What have we become?
What have we become?
Amid the tragic stories and threats being made throughout the nation, there are a few things that have caught my attention in the media and even on Facebook that bring hope to my heart.
- I’ve seen people offering free hugs to police officers.
- I have seen to groups of protesters come together and join hands in prayer. No lie.
- I have seen acts of kindness that have reminded me that LOVE CONQUERS ALL.
Love.
I would like to bring to your consideration that our perspective on love has become as skewed as the many perspectives regarding the trouble in our nation.
For quite some time we, as Americans, have been buying in to a sense of entitlement that is crippling us to the core. The “love” we dispense is done so with many conditions. “I love you, but don’t cross me.”
Truly some of the greatest peacemakers in the world were those who sacrificed their comfort and even their rights for the lives of others.
Those who have, over the generations, sacrificed their lives to serve others have been remembered well beyond their years. People like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. have been admired by many. And more importantly, they lived lives full of purpose and love. Their sacrifices changed the world.
I just finished a book called “The Gift of Pain”. In it, the late Dr. M Scott Peck is quoted saying,
Simply seek happiness, and you are not likely to find it. Seek to create and love without regard to your happiness, and you will likely be happy much of the time. Seeking joy in and of itself will not bring it to you. Do the work of creating community and you will obtain it – although never exactly according to your schedule. Joy is an uncapturable yet utterly predictable side effect of genuine community.
Is it too late to love this way? Is it too late for us to decide to sacrificially love others in this country?
How do we get back to loving others with a pure and sacrificial love? Are we able to love without expecting anything in return? I’ve been asking myself these honest questions. I want to love this way!
Of course, Christ gave us the perfect example of what it means to serve and demonstrate love. There are countless passages in God’s Word that speak of His mission of love in this world. Here are just a few…
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. John 13:13-15
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matt 5:43-44
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:3-8
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this,that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[a] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,[a] let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Matt 5:38-42
Today, what if we sacrificed our time or resources and decided to do something for someone else, perhaps something that in particular speaks AGAINST the divide that is threatening our nation. It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Decide today to make an expression of love to someone who’s not expecting it.
Maybe it’s time we stopped asking the question, “What am I getting out of this?” And begin to ask, “How can I be a part of bringing people together by demonstrating love.”
Whatever attitudes we foster, seem to be contagious. Let it not be hate, indifference or division. Let it be love and let’s start today!
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Cor 13:4-7
Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18
