Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
We often think of love as a feeling. For some people of my age, the iconic film on romantic love, love as a feeling, would be West Side Story. That feeling is probably best captured in Tonight:
Tonight, tonight,However, when we think about love more carefully, we realize there is a lot more to love than emotion. After all, God commands us to love. One cannot command an emotion. Emotions simply are.
Won't be just any night,
Tonight there will be no morning star.
Tonight, tonight, I'll see my love tonight.
And for us, stars will stop where they are.
Today
The minutes seem like hours,
The hours go so slowly,
And still the sky is light . . .
Oh moon, grow bright,
And make this endless day endless night!
I confess to having some of the most selfish impulses that often leave me wondering if God is truly changing me.
But I suppose God is changing me because in addition to the selfish impulse is now the impulse that follows that says, you shouldn't be so selfish. At that point, I have to decide which impulse will I act on. In this way, love becomes an action and a choice and not mere warm fuzzy feelings.
May the Spirit of God bring to the fore more impulses that are less Rene centered and more God centered! And may the Holy Spirit strengthen my will to action when prompted. Amen.
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