Above all else

I haven't posted a picture in a few days.  I'm not sure why because there is always something to snap.  Motivation has been lacking, I guess.   Motivation is back today.  It returned in the form of a quote from a song.  I don't even know what song it is or who sings it.  When I find out, I'll post.

Yesterday morning, as I was fixing breakfast for Caroline, this song was playing on the radio.  A line in it caught my attention, "The world is on their way to you, but they're tripping over me.".  Wow.  I stopped what I was doing, grabbed a note card and wrote it down.  Then I read it again.  The truth in it hit me.

I am a follower of Christ.  I believe that in Him is life and that all life is held together in and through Him.  Therefore, I believe the words that have come from Him are pure truth.  There is not anything in this world that is true, that is not His.

As I grow older, I become less convinced that I have all of the answers.  There are things in this world that I am not so sure of anymore.  It seems the older I get, the less I know or the more I know that I don't know.  Does that make sense?  The one thing I do know is God is who He says He is.  God loves me.  God loves you.  While other things get more confusing, God does not.  

This world is confusing.  When I get confused, I go to the Truth.  What does the author of all say about it?  This causes me to take a look at what He calls the greatest commandment in Matthew 22 - "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'"This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'"  Did you get that last part?  Everything hangs on these two things - Love God, love your neighbor (as yourself).  It's a short order, but a tall one.  This is going to take a while to master - the rest of my life, I'm guessing.

To me, that means before I can get too bogged down with the stuff of life, I need to Love God with everything I am and have AND love my neighbor as myself.  Again, wow.  I return to this quite often.  I question a lot.  I always have.  When I question something - an issue, an opinion, etc. I must put it up against this.  My first job is to love God.  My second is to love my neighbor (as myself).  When I don't do this, something doesn't work.  I get off track or hung up on the non-essentials in life.  That's why those lyrics jumped out at me like they did.  I don't want to get in someone's way.

I am reminded of a quote that I like, "In essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, love."  This, of course, will beg the question - what is essential and what is not?  That, I cannot - or will not - answer for you.  As for me, I go back to the author of it all and seek my answer.  In the meantime, I will try my best to love.