When Jesus is asked by one of the scribes which of the many commandments in the law was first in priority, he names two. In doing do, he combines them into one, the greatest of all. To put it simply, love God and love your neighbor. It sounds easy enough, but is so much harder to put into practice. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? It must mean loving God with everything you have, your whole self, all the time. I wish I could say I always do that, but there are many times I get distracted and my full attention is elsewhere. And what about loving my neighbor as myself? Sister Liz in today's devotion fleshes this out by writing, "Loving our neighbor means knowing them, listening to them, accompanying them, striving together for the benefit of others, sharing ourselves with them and being open to noticing God in them." To truly love the neighbor is to "engage in loving relationships" with those around us, especially those "experiencing hunger, poverty, loneliness, inequity, oppression, and injustice..." That's quite a challenge. We can't engage everyone in that way. But who can we engage? Who do we know that needs us to be that person to accompany and love them at this time?
Sister Liz's message is very convicting. While we have easy ways to engage with our neighbors, including Family Promise, she helps us see that we need to expand the ways and times that we engage with others...which includes sharing more of ourselves.
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