For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
This was the message that John's readers truly had heard from the beginning: to love God, and to love their neighbors as themselves. I love the simplicity of John's message: Love one another. I remember "Love one another" being a memory verse when I was 4 or 5 years old -- along with "Be kind."
If you look at certain news outlets or listen to certain politicians, or read certain publications, you might be convinced that we all hate one another. There is no shortage of mocking, ridicule, and finger-pointing on either side of the aisle. I truly hate reading about and watching these people. They seem foreign to me. They are nothing like what I see in real life.
In real life, when people hear that there is need ... they are making face masks and bouffant caps for healthcare workers. They're posting on Nextdoor that they're available to help. They're asking what they can do. They're are delivering meals to the kids who normally get their meals at school. A few days ago, people in my neighborhood learned that the blood bank was low, so they signed up to give blood, no questions asked. I couldn't believe how crowded the parking lot was today for the mobile blood bank.
Oh ... and people are posting funny memes. It seems like such a small, insignificant thing, but in this time of great fear and grief and uncertainty, those memes have reminded us to laugh, and helped us put everything into perspective.
Yes, things are bad. Yes, I think it's important to know what's going on, to read the horror stories from the healthcare workers in New York, Boston, New Orleans. We can't turn a blind eye to that. We need to pray for those who are suffering, and we need to ask if there is any way that each of us can help.
But we should also look around and see how people, having heard that there is need here or there, are loving one another. I have definitely been both convicted and inspired by what I've seen in my own neighbors. How can we better love one another in this difficult time?
Today's photo: A parking lot full of blood donors.
This was the message that John's readers truly had heard from the beginning: to love God, and to love their neighbors as themselves. I love the simplicity of John's message: Love one another. I remember "Love one another" being a memory verse when I was 4 or 5 years old -- along with "Be kind."
If you look at certain news outlets or listen to certain politicians, or read certain publications, you might be convinced that we all hate one another. There is no shortage of mocking, ridicule, and finger-pointing on either side of the aisle. I truly hate reading about and watching these people. They seem foreign to me. They are nothing like what I see in real life.
In real life, when people hear that there is need ... they are making face masks and bouffant caps for healthcare workers. They're posting on Nextdoor that they're available to help. They're asking what they can do. They're are delivering meals to the kids who normally get their meals at school. A few days ago, people in my neighborhood learned that the blood bank was low, so they signed up to give blood, no questions asked. I couldn't believe how crowded the parking lot was today for the mobile blood bank.
Oh ... and people are posting funny memes. It seems like such a small, insignificant thing, but in this time of great fear and grief and uncertainty, those memes have reminded us to laugh, and helped us put everything into perspective.
Yes, things are bad. Yes, I think it's important to know what's going on, to read the horror stories from the healthcare workers in New York, Boston, New Orleans. We can't turn a blind eye to that. We need to pray for those who are suffering, and we need to ask if there is any way that each of us can help.
But we should also look around and see how people, having heard that there is need here or there, are loving one another. I have definitely been both convicted and inspired by what I've seen in my own neighbors. How can we better love one another in this difficult time?
Today's photo: A parking lot full of blood donors.
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