Every day we have the opportunity to offer hope to a seemingly hopeless world. Every day we have the opportunity to connect with the God of the universe and experience perfect love. Every day we can become more like the Jesus we made a decision to follow.
I do think it’s important and helpful to remember that these are all opportunities. None of it is effortless or automatic. In fact, it’s often quite the opposite.
Loving others isn’t always easy.
Offering hope can sometimes seem pointless.
Slowing down to connect with God is often easier said than done.
Becoming more like the Jesus we made a decision to follow is an everyday journey, not just a simple, one-time commitment.
Simply doing these things is hard enough, but I’m afraid I often complicate things even further by putting my words and efforts in the wrong direction. As the Church, we have a long way to go with all of these things, but what if we did things differently?
What if we started approaching things with more humility and empathy?
What if we listened to the other side as much as we argued against it?
What if we gave away our love as freely as we give away our opinions?
What if we stopped gossiping about “their” problems and started working on our own?
What if we became known more for the good we “did,” not just the good we talked about doing?
IF we DID, I think we and the world we live in would be much better off.