Love
“Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.”—Proverbs 10:12.
Langley on a mission trip
We are all banking on this being true. I think of all my offenses, the evil I have done, the harm I have done consciously or unconsciously, the friends, the family members I have hurt. I make amends for the damage I have done, but mostly I try to make living amends. I hope to learn to love the way my granddaughter, Langley, is doing to this young child on her mission trip. I want to hold closely the Christ in others and let them know what a treasure they are. I want to see the Christ in them. This is what spiritual friends do for each other. They affirm, stand by each other.
More often now, I am paying it forward. If I could not make amends to the person I harmed, especially if they have died, I now try to show the love I wish I had been able to give to someone else. Paying forward is showing love to someone else who has done nothing for us, especially someone we do not know, and often someone who feels loveless. Still, making amends to the exact person you harmed will always, always be the most freeing.
I try, I judge, I make mistakes, I mess up; I hurt others; I make amends; I try to show the love that has been so often unconditionally given to me, and the cycle seems invariably to start all over again. It is a circular path. It is the human condition. I try to stay connected to this circular pathway of others who know more than I know about love, and hope to learn from them. I can so easily see Christ in them, and occasionally they can see the Christ in me, which guides me back onto the path of love.
Today, I learn most about how to love from my grandchildren. This is one more circular path, for I first learned about love from my own grandparents many years ago.
Joanna joannaseibert.com