“Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” Matthew 22:37-40
I’ve been following Jesus since I was young, but only recently did the weight of these words hit me, and I realized that the foundation of what I thought was my faith was full of cracks and wrong perceptions, rules and regulations, judgments with no cause, and empty condemnations.
All that my God is, all that my faith is, all that I should be is Love. After this gradual realization came freedom, then came the curiosity to discover Truth, and the many questions that follow: what is the best way to love? What does it even mean that a being can be Love? How can I live out what I claim to believe?
This desire for Truth is something that will take a lifetime to fulfill in my heart and even then, I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand it, either in this life or the next because its infinite, and there’s always more to grow into.
Love is much greater than a mere feeling of affection. More than mutual gratification or satisfaction. If my God is love than that means that love is infinite and powerful and much greater than human understanding. If Love is my God than that means that any hateful or hurt-filled perceptions of Him are not based on Truth. If Love is our faith then we need to explore it deeply. I think that a lack of exploration and understanding, and our imperfections (because we are imperfect beings) have caused all Christians–at one point or another–to greatly misrepresent faith. I don’t say this to cast condemnation or to voice criticism because Love is greater than all of us, and it is impossible for any human to represent it in their own strengths. We will never reach “perfection” as the world defines it and–as long as we live in this world as we know it–there will always be someone who gets hurt or offended despite our greatest efforts, but we have a promise that we are not alone in our struggle and that the One who aids us has the power to make us Holy.
This blog is an exploration of my faith, my God, and what it means to truly Love. It’s my active and conscious attempt at growing Love within myself and past myself and letting it permeate all areas of my life (whatever that means. This is my attempt to find out what that means).
This is a blog for anyone who believes that we belong to something so much bigger than ourselves, and anyone who’s heart calls out for that. It’s for anyone who wants to be better and search for what “being better” means. It’s for anyone who seeks to break down walls within themselves and in others in order to embrace true identity. And it’s for anyone who wants to step into the lifelong adventure that is seeking out Love in this world.
Shedding Cocoons 