Dear Faith Family,
I assume that you want to love well. That you desire what is really good for those persons, places, professions, and even passions to which you've given your affection. And I assume this is true of you even if, like myself, your actions and attitudes don't always seem to align with your aspirations.
If I am honest, often the misses in my loving--those times when I really am acting out of love but the result is anything but "really good"--aren't for lack of right desire, but a matter of a missed perception.
Maybe you are different, but I typically have an idea or picture in mind of what is really good for the lives and things I am a part of, especially when compelled by love to get involved within their happenings. Yet I run into issues when I'm primarily looking for what is good and yet unaware of what is true in the lives and things I love.
"to love others well," says Thomas Merton, "we must first love the truth." And the "truth I must love...is God Himself, living in them. I must seek the life of the Spirit of God breathing in them."
It's not enough for me to want what is really good for those lives and things I love; I must seek and find the only good Himself (Lk. 18:19) present and active. When I am first aware of Love Himself (1 Jn. 4:16) already loving, I can truly love well.
This shift of perspective from desiring what is good to seeing what is true, is subtle. Yet it sets us up to love with reverent humility and bold effectiveness. In a word, to be meek, and an inherited of all that is God's (Ps. 37:11 & Matt. 5:5).
But how do you make the shift, and make it natural?
Several hundred years ago, the anchoress, Julian of Norwich, found herself in a similar situation as you and me. She wanted to love well, but knew to do so; she needed to be aware of some One else's love already active. So Julian came up with an "eye exercise" to help her more naturally shift perspective.
I look at God.
I look at who/what I love.
I keep looking at God.
Her first motion was to look at the One in whose life and love both herself and who/what she loved exists. Only when her eyes had adjusted to the light of that Truth did her gaze turn to the need of the beloved, who was now seen as already enmeshed in God's activities and affection. Then, Julian could love well, knowing if and how to act or speak...or not.
Maybe an "eye exercise" seems silly to you. I know it did to me at first. But think what could be different for those you love if you took the time to love what is good for them and what is true in them.
To help you and me get the heart of the exercise, I've included a brief prayer with each movement. Try it this week. When love compels you to enter into the happenings of others, stop for just a moment, seek and find the Truth already shining, and follow Him in loving well.
I LOOK AT GOD
Father, You hem us in. We have nowhere to go from Your presence. You have formed and written us into Your life.
I LOOK AT WHO/WHAT I LOVE
Jesus, that which is made, is life in You--from You and through You and to You.
I KEEP LOOKING AT GOD
Holy Spirit, lead me into Your life and love. I will follow, and love as You love.
May we come to know and to believe the love that God has for us and his love is perfected in us as we love one another.
I love you, faith family! God bless!