Thursday, April 12, 2012

Dear God,

If your goal for us is to love one another, how can we rise to live in love with one another?  How do we make it possible for every person to feel loved and cared for?  How do we create a world where all not only know love but experience it every day?

As I began my early morning prayer, I prayed for the world and all its inhabitants.  Then you brought to me the commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you."  How do we live up to these high expectations?  How do we work to provide love for every person?

How do we become aware of one another in the grocery store, on the road, and around the world?  How do we grow love for the stranger, for the perpetrator, and the mean-spirited?  How do we allow our hearts to be open to love all as you love us?

I want to have that kind of love.  I want to be more loving, compassionate, and caring.  I pray for the neighbor and the stranger but do I really love them?  Do I show them I care when I pray?  How do I make your love and mine real for every living soul?

Teach us
the way
of love,
O God.
Let it be
not only
through prayer
but acts
of kindness,
giving, and
becoming more
loving ourselves.
Reveal our neighbor,
be it
at home
or around
the world.
Let your love
guide us
to become
people of love,
I pray.

Love, Andrea