February 2023 Meditation

In an Age of Division
Can We Find Our Way
to Love & Accept Everyone?
______________
Terry L. 

The Season of Valentine’s leads us to think of expressions of love.  

Have you given?
Syrian American
Medical Society
a global
relief organization
is responding on
the ground
in both
Syria and Turkey
following the
earthquake there.
"Our hospitals are
overwhelmed.
There is an
immediate need
for trauma supplies
to save lives."
C​lick here for
more information.
I don’t know about you but if I watch too much News lately -- or, God forbid, have something sent to me from that cesspool of misinformation called Facebook -- I find that I’m just not “feeling the love” that we claim, as Christians, we have for all children born of that same Eternal Spirit flowing through each of us.

Our All-Encompassing Creator is surely alone in the ability to show no partiality.  As imperfect beings we humans lack that ability. Where I live -- and perhaps you can relate -- social and political views have become deeply entrenched and partial.  We are more disagreeable in our disagreement. We mistrust and are even mean-spirited to people who vote, think, or live their lives differently from us.  As happened in the spiritual journey of  Peter, our impartial God also calls us to rethink how we treat those who differ from us.

Do you remember Peter’s story?  An orthodox Jew who, at first, persecuted the followers of Jesus of Nazareth he thought were blasphemers.  And, even after his conversion on the road to Damascus, remained entrenched in his thinking that Gentiles (non-Jews) were “unclean” and could not possibly be included in the promises God had made to his people alone through their patriarchs Abraham and Moses.

Yet, in The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 10 God commanded Peter in a vision to rethink his own vision of who God chose to include in the club -  to rethink God’s fully encompassing love of all the world’s people.  Peter had a bias and needed to rethink his partiality in which he viewed one group as favored over another.  At the home of Cornelius, a Roman army officer and a Gentile, Peter’s reformation in thinking becomes clear as he teaches that the forgiveness we find for ourselves in the sacrificial act of Jesus is poured out upon everyone who believes in this message of love and forgiveness.

In the verses that follow this story we learn of how the Eternal Spirit then came to rest on those Gentiles gathered there, and Peter, putting away his former biases, puts his newly inclusive understanding of God into practice and baptizes them into the newly emerging Christian faith.

We too are called to set aside practices and speech that favor some people over others and to live out the radical impartiality and all-including love we know to be the true way to live favored by our Divine Source. 

God is Love.

And Jesus commands us to Love One Another.
Treat others the way you prefer to be treated.
And give, give this love -- even to those who persecute you.

In an Age of Division
Can We Find Our Way
to Love & Accept Everyone?
___________________

More of Terry's Monthly Meditations

March, 2023
Don't Ignore the Signs of TIA

January, 2023
What Do You Know About the Man?

____________

______________________________

Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:

Body:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
Sedentary activities, Sugars, Salt.
Trust me,
you’ll be feeling better in no time!

Mind & Spirit:
Avoid the 3 F’s
Manufactured in these mediums are
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!

JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!

JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!

Join me in ensuring an educated citizenry!
BECOME A SUSTAINING MEMBER TODAY!

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