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Loving Your Neighbor As Yourself - Uh Oh.


 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:39) 

         God's second "Greatest Commandment."  Have you considered the possibility that you can't not love your neighbor as yourself, or that your love for your neighbor might be a reflection of your love for yourself? There are probably exceptions, but I know I tend to do a poor job of loving myself. I baby myself more often than I should. Oh, I can be disciplined when it pleases me, when it makes me look good, but I'd rather hide from truths I don't want to face, hide from the world because I don't want to change in the ways I need to change. I "forgive" my faults rather than do anything about them. I'm the same way with my neighbors. I seem to have two ways of loving: giving information and keeping my distance.
           Agape love , the sort of love we are to show ourselves and our neighbors is not indulgent. It is gracious and merciful, but it is service, not worship. It is love, which must be based in truth because allowing ourselves or our neighbors to live a lie is not loving. We cannot force others to accept the truth. We are to love them even if they don't, but we must never allow the lie to go unchallenged. We must never accept the lie that accepting their lie is part of loving them and more than accepting our lies is part of loving ourselves.
            Loving this way is hard work. It means spending time and energy, probably when it's not convenient. It's also a lot easier than we may think, because more often than not, we don't think. We get caught up in  all the things we need to do, and  loving our neighbor never crosses our minds.  Sometimes, it's as easy as doing the obvious. Sometimes, it's as easy as asking a neighbor to move their car so you can mow your lawn without risking damage to a vehicle that is parked too close to the grass. Sometimes, it's throwing newspapers up next to the door, or taking their empty garbage cans to their back yard. It can be easy as helping  the neighbor plant  her garden when you're dong planting yours, or before planting yours. It can mean taking the time to snow bow two driveways and sidewalks instead of one, or helping catch a dog that god away. These are mostly simple, small things but if you are not doing more, you are doing less. These aren't random acts of kindness. They are deliberate, habit-forming acts of love. They are little cases in which your neighbor's well-being (not the well-being of their agenda) is as important as your own well-being, and more important than your agenda. 

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Birthday of

Thomas Hardy

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