"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:37-40
I went to church yesterday and heard a beautiful homily that seemed to tie into my post about being still, so I wanted to share. The gospel reading was from Matthew 22:34-40
"When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
The priest talked about how we often miss the very first commandment - to love The Lord. But how do we do this? The priest said, "This is all the Lord ask of us - To.First.Love.Him. We can not love ourselves or neighbor until we first love Him. And this is not easy. Picture God as the artist, and you are the blank canvas in front of Him."
I loved this image, and it stuck with me all day. It made me think of my quiet time. The Lord only asks me to sit with Him and be open and "blank" before Him. The Lord asks that I allow Him to paint the picture of the life He wants for me. And the only way I can do this, the only way I can know what that picture looks like is to be open and present before Him. It is then that I can hear Him. And when I do this - I am loving The Lord. The priest went on to say, "When we love The Lord it will emanate from every part of our being. And then, and only then can we love ourselves and love our neighbor."
So much easier said than done, I know! The Lord does not expect perfection just our presence :)