The human person. Next to us, in our presence.
Another soul, another mind, another being.
Loving the person – what does that mean?
How do we love them? The stranger, the different, the seemingly unlovable,
the one close to us who hurts us?
In their shoes, put yourself, see the world from their eyes.
See who they are,
what made them be, the way they are.
All are human, all are created, out of God’s Love.
All are corrupted, out of a twisted love.
All have a backstory.
Eye-contact, a smile, a simple ‘Hello’.
Doing the right thing, for another, because it is the right thing to do.
Respect. Care for well-being. Dignity.
Is that not what we ourselves desire?
Forgiveness. Sacrifice. Two things He requires.
To each other we owe this.
Seeing Him in the eyes of others.
Loving Him.
So that we can love.
As I pondered on the readings for today, these words came to me. The readings speak of God’s amazing, undying love for us and how we have one simple commandment – to love one another as Jesus loves us.
It should be simple, but it’s not. The word love is thrown around cheaply today. It’s twisted into what we want it to be. And when you read scripture, about God’s love and how we are to love one another as we love God, what does that really mean?
Because so many of us, so many times, do not love God. And I’m not pointing to those people, somewhere else. I’m pointing to all of us. You. Me. So many times in every day, we choose to love ourselves and do our own thing – before loving God. So, if we can’t love God consistently, then how are we to love each other?
Hence the world we live in.
But yet He still loves us and forgives us, and shows us grace and mercy, grace and mercy that we cannot even imagine, that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Paraphrasing Merton, we just have to keep having the desire and keep trying to please Him. To love Him.
So that brings us to each other. How do we love each other, especially those in the world that are difficult to love, who hurt or offend us?
My wife and I went to see the musical Wicked last night here in Indianapolis. I didn’t really know the storyline above and beyond that it surrounded the witches in The Wizard of Oz, a musical film from the 1930’s.
I know that some of you may not know the story of The Wizard of Oz, but without going into too much detail, it is about a farm-girl named Dorothy who’s house is transported to the Magical Land of Oz by a tornado. The film centers on her journey to see the Wizard of Oz who is the only one who can get her home, and her encounters along the way, including with two witches – the Wicked Witch of the West, and the Good Witch of the North. If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it. It’s a classic.
The musical Wicked then centers on the backstory of the witches, and how they came to be, intertwining it with the original storyline. I love backstories. And so, we get to see why the witches became the way they are, and we learn that the wicked witch is not necessarily that wicked, and that she was doing everything out of love, and a desire to be loved.
She was different, unlovable, from her earliest days. But deep down she really has a good heart. She was a product of her circumstances, some she chose, others she did not.
The Wizard of Oz showed us the wicked exterior, the thing we physically see. But Wicked shows us the human person underneath, and how love – or the lack thereof – changes us, how it shapes us. When you know the backstory, you see the person. You see the humanity. You see God’s creation. You see the person from a different perspective.
Things, and people, are not always as they seem.
And so, I think we need to keep this in mind when it comes to loving others, especially where it is difficult. We’ve got to try to see it from the other persons perspective, learn their backstory, and while we may not condone or support their ultimate choices, at least we can try to see the reason why, and perhaps let that sorrow, and that sadness for them that wells up in our hearts, turn into a prayer for them.
We’ve got to see the human person before us – in those we work with, in those we live with in our community, and in those we live with within our homes. See the humanity within, look through the exterior, and I think that’s how we find God.
And ultimately, that’s how we love.
It’s easier said than done. But it’s necessary. It’s necessary to find our way home.
