Greater Love

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. Instead, I choose a theme for each year - the themes are related to character traits I am hoping to develop or a goal I am hoping to accomplish. The theme for this year is love - greater love.

I'm not talking about romantic love, the kind we see in movies or read in story books that usually end with a "happily ever after." I'm talking about the kind of love that God calls us to, the kind that is self-sacrificing and enduring. The kind of love that changes lives. The kind of love that has changed my life.

The work that I do is challenging. It takes everything I've got...everything. Sometimes I long for a normal life, a normal schedule, a normal routine. But, that isn't what God has called me to. In this work it is easy to get jaded. Real life stories don't always end the way we want them to - the way they do in fairy tales or Hollywood. In real life, the drug addict often relapses and goes back to using drugs. In real life, it is more lucrative for a woman to make money by selling her body than running a small business in a resource poor area. In real life, the shackles of poverty are strong and erode the spirit making one believe they cannot overcome their circumstances. In real life, marriages crumble, children are abandoned, people suffer. In real life, I visit the bedside of people dying of AIDS. In real life, I meet thousands of orphans with limited options for the future based on prejudice and injustice. In real life, I grow tired and weary of hearing the same tragic stories again and again. In real life, I only have so much time and energy and there isn't much left over for my family when the work day is done.

I have found myself chanting a prayer from Mother Theresa this year. It says:

Sweetest Lord,

make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation,

and its many responsibilities.

Never permit me to disgrace it

by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.

Mercy does not come naturally to me. It just doesn't. My natural inclination is to tell someone to buck up, get over themselves and do something. I have worked at developing mercy and compassion over the years. I am convinced that I cannot be effective in this work without it. I must continue to expand my capacity to love. The day I stop caring is the day I should stop doing the work. As in Mother Theresa's prayer, I never want to disgrace my calling by becoming overwhelmed and succumbing to coldness, unkindness or impatience.

Years ago I had a pastor that equated spiritual growth with a single question: "how are you doing on loving people?" I often ask myself this question. When I'm walking closely with God, in vital connection with him, I love people easily - it is not a chore, but comes naturally. When I am living on my strength I find people's problems irritating and my compassion is limited.

Love, true and authentic love, changes lives. It is the only thing I know that does. We can use all the best practices or spend endless amounts of money in public programs, but the most effective, inspiring, life-changing thing is to know love. Genuine love changes lives. When we feel loved, we can conquer the world. When we feel loved, we belong. When we feel love, we find the courage to keep going. Love is a powerful and necessary tool in overcoming difficult circumstances, the kind of circumstance I encounter in my work. I need to continue to grow my capacity to love.

My favorite scripture on the topic of love is below:
I Corinithians 13: 1-3, 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing...and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Without love, my efforts are useless and empty. This is the year of "Greater Love."

Lord, grow my capacity to love people, genuinely love them. I don't believe love is a limited commodity, but it is one not found often enough in our fallen world. I want more love in my life, the kind of love that changes lives for the better. Amen.