Love The One Your With

Amid the anger of those who ignore the reality before us there is also a grieving for all that is being lost. Conjecture on when life will “come back to normal” only salts the wound and confuses the issues at hand. 

Reality looms before us: a dysfunctional government, an educational system in jeopardy long before the pandemic, and a clash of fundamental human beliefs will all soon diminish by the onslaught of winter and an increase in homelessness, hunger and sickness, which we will surely face. 

Many are paralyzed by fear. Some insist on acting out of anger. Yet others are engaged in finding and creating new possibilities.  It’s as if we are being given a chance to do over much of what we have had horribly wrong. 

Our resiliency is being tested. And as far as I can tell there is only one solution: love.

Fear and anger cannot dwell in a heart of love. And love is a practice. I can let the caterpillar be killed as it meanders across the busy road, or I can give it a lift to the other side. Not because I should, but because I love. 

When the young man comes to talk to me about being saved, I can tell him it’s not my cup of tea but I can love him for his effort and I can tell him so. I can love beyond my boundaries. I can witness a human being through my righteousness. 

When another friend laments that good is being overpowered, I can hear him, but I can assert my truth that as long as we care, as long as we love, we cannot be defeated.

Love is a powerful asset that does not need understanding to be felt.

It’s time we use it.