As Yourself
The greatest commandment:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
As I think of this commandment I must admit, is there time for anything else? Of course, there is the next commandment which is:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
These two commandments are deceptively worded so simply but living up to them, well, that is another issue. I think as human the challenge is great. What we can learn from this is exactly what our priorities should be. God first in everything. How can we do that?
When we go to work, we are thinking of earning a wage that will buy us what we need, save a little for retirement, and have some left over for fun. Our thoughts are rather self-centered. When we have a family, our work will now start to include what is needed to raise our children, provide an education for them, and maybe have something left over for fun. Having a family brings God back into our perspective because we begin to care for others, an act of charity. Soon there will be grandchildren. Then we start to think of a will and something for the church and school. Again, our charity begins to widen in scope. The first commandment however directs us to prioritize those thoughts of charity to where we are right now in our lives. Keeping God first means thinking of others and how our work impacts those around us.
One key point to remember and that is the second part of the second commandment. As yourself. In other words, it is difficult to love others or perform acts of charity if we do not love ourselves. This means we need to forgive ourselves if we are to love ourselves. We cannot be so hard and judgmental of what we do to be merciful toward others. We need that balance in our lives. God first and love of neighbor. How will you change your way of thinking today?
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen