Same Song…Hoping if I Sing it Enough It Will be Heard and Understood
We are born innocent, but unfinished. We are born totally needy. Our spiritual journey is from need to being able to love an other or others more than ourselves. That was the WAY of Jesus. You can see him grow in understanding and in capacity for love in the Scriptures. His potential was to be perfect in love. We are born with different potentials….not necessarily going to be the same or perfect, but just fulfilling our personal potential for love. My experience has been that my last years have been a time of recognizing my journey from need to love and recognizing how slow it has been and that since I’m still here, I must still need to grow in my capacity for loving others more than myself. And the reality is that people who are different from us are harder to love up close than in theory. And they are having the same challenge!
One of the keys to loving is recognizing we didn’t get a choice about our unfinished personality or upbringing and neither did others. We may disagree strongly and work to bring about our view of a better world, but we cannot judge people as stupid or evil., they are playing the hand they were dealt the best they know how and judging them makes it impossible to ever learn how to work together using a balance of our natural inborn strengths..
Posted on November 5, 2024, in a Jesus kind of love, Always two imperfect, bit legitimate sides to every issue, Being imperfect people in an imperfect world., Caring across differences, Gifts of Age, Judging, life as school, The Spiritual Journey to Wholeness., Understanding our Enemies frees us to Love them.. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Laughter: Carbonated Grace 
And forgive ❤️
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Oh YES!!!!!!!! Thank you, Robert….
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“we cannot judge people as stupid or evil., they are playing the hand they were dealt the best they know how and judging them makes it impossible to ever learn how to work together using a balance of our natural inborn strengths..”
Wonderful insight! I do struggle with judgement of others, and self judgment. I often feel we aren’t doing enough to improve. I’m often dissatisfied with the way things are.
I do believe you are right though judgment (for self or others) is harmful to healthy growth and relationships.
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I am an idealist. This is a gift and a curse. We work hard to be better and make the world better. BUT, as idealists everyone, everything falls short. If we are not aware of the natural unfinishedness of ourselves and the world, we are always dissatisfied and often disillusioned with people. If God hadn’t intervened often in my life I would have been married at least six times instead of learning to love my wonderful, but of course unfinished, husband for sixty years. And could never have faced my unfinishedness so that I could forgive myself since God already had and then be able grow spiritually . I suspect you too are an idealist. Never let it die, but never expect perfection. We can only play the hand we were dealt and none of us is playing with a Royal flush. We aren’t God. We inch on our journey, sometimes taking small leaps, sometimes going backwards a bit emotionally curling up in a fetal position sucking our thumbs, but with grace getting up and going on. The key is knowing beyond all doubt that we are loved unconditionally by God.
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Yes, I relate to what you’ve shared here. And I believe it is the truth when you write, “The key is knowing beyond all doubt that we are loved unconditionally by God.”
Yet, I know it’s true, I don’t feel it’s true if that makes any sense. I feel I have to “achieve” certain things or be a “certain sort of person” in order to deserve God’s love/or not feel shame.
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I understand that. Been there. I’ll pray that you get that experience that takes us beyond doubt on being loved as unfinished people. Nobody dies perfect. Only God is perfect. It’s still hard when I face my failures that I wasn’t aware of. For a few moments I am heart broken. But then I remember that love and presence from so many years ago that was different even from the love my husband had for me even in my really basket case years. It really is a love beyond all understanding and forgiveness has been given before we even know we need it when we fail because we are only human, not God. Hugging you in my mind. I so do understand.
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It actually is connected to our sense of self-worth. It’s humbling to know God loves everybody. We don’t want to let God down, but the truth is you can’t, he knows more about us than we do and she also knows the why of us.
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