Ordinary Time

Pause

“Omg. LOVE.” When a thumbs-up “like” is not enough, “LOVE” is what we write under a friend’s Facebook picture of her puppy. Love means “extreme like,” right?

But what if it’s more? Jesus makes love the core of his message, the key that unlocks everything else.

What if the love he speaks of is more than your momentary preferences? What if the love he speaks of is a choice? What if it’s harder than the love the world speaks of, but also bigger?

What if that kind of love is the only thing that can ever change us?

Maybe that love begins with an earnest look toward heaven, the sincere words on our lips: “Oh. My God.”

Listen

Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Think

On a junior high canoe trip, I met a church youth leader whose heart overflowed for Christ. Whether driving the van or enlisting us at the soup kitchen, he found things to celebrate. He sang anthem rock at the top of his lungs, quoted scripture like favorite song lyrics, and made every kid laugh. When he prayed, you could feel his love for God.

When he led some of the group in cliff-jumping into those Boundary Waters lakes, he said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage!” He had something I wanted, and that summer after 8th grade, I decided my life could have no greater adventure or purpose than following Jesus.

Since then I have met others who radiated this faith, and they’ve come in many types: contemplative monks, justice-seeking nuns, teenagers in Kenya, and grandmothers in nursing homes.

Where have you met such a person? Be around them. Ask them what they know of God.

Cari Pattison

Pray

God of love, put people in my path who love you with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Teach me how to become one — even in my own uniqueness of personality and gifts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Go

Go now into the world
carried in the arms of love,
emboldened by the voice of love,
and sheltered under the wings of love.

Go now into a world
enslaved to a false love,
desperate for a word of love,
and more open than you can imagine to the God of love.