TRAIL OF LOVE

 

When the lawyer asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?”, Jesus answered:  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

The first one is rather simple: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The second one, in my opinion, is a little bit more complex. The inference here is selflessness as opposed to selfishness, that we should want for others what we want for ourselves, and that we should treat others as we would want to be treated.

The question begs to be asked, how much do we love ourselves? Our behaviour towards others is often a mirror of our inner selves. Do we love ourselves enough to make others feel loved? I am not talking about prideful love of self that elevates us in our minds to be above everyone else, but an appreciation of self and our self-worth.

If we see ourselves less than everyone else, and think nothing of ourselves, we will think nothing of others too. You simply cannot exude love if you don’t have it within you. How we see ourselves is usually how we see others too. If we are in the habit of undermining ourselves, we will tend to do the same to others.

If we do not love ourselves, we will most likely suffer from low self-esteem, depression, anger, resentment and unhappiness and this will reflect in our behaviour towards others. Love is much needed in this world and it needs to start with us so that we can extend it to others.

I am generalizing here and do acknowledge that there are exceptions to the rule. As a rule of thumb though, lack of self-love seems to be true for a lot of people and often it has a lot to do with our upbringing, abandonment, abuse, constant criticism etc. This is a deep issue that requires insight into the root of self-perception and realization that healing is needed both on the psychological and spiritual level. All I am saying here is that you cannot assuage someone’s thirst from an empty well so the well might need some serious attention.

As we draw closer to God and discover our spiritual identity, healing becomes a reality affording us an understanding of our self-worth. From there self-love is much easier to embrace.

Some people are natural conduits of love. It is their spiritual gift…..for the rest of us it is a challenge in one way or another but for all of us it is a commandment. The Saviour is the epitome of selflessness. He has left a trail for us to follow so we can become like Him, but until then, may we allow His selfless love for all to flow through us to our neighbour…..and lastly, if we love God, other commandments just follow….

Your footsteps, so big and so deep

Swallow my feeble feet;

I try to keep up

To tend Your vulnerable sheep;

To gather the lost,

To clothe, to feed;

So many for my poorly

Devised shelter to keep.

Illuminate my steps dear Saviour

With Thy glorious light;

And grant me Thy power

To feed them from Thy godly heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Guardian by Kelsey and Jesse Lightweave)