Psalm 119:34: Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
In our desire to be self-sufficient, we forget that on our own we are alive but lifeless. We have no purpose except to please ourselves. When we seek to understand others, we find ways to help those God puts into our paths. We reach out, and grow inside. We look up, and our horizons expand. We bow our heads in prayer and know we have made a connection, the most important connection of all. When we look to our neighbor and try to understand them we see God’s plan at work in all people everywhere. In Matthew 22:38-40, Jesus said: “‘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 the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” Who is your neighbor? Who is my neighbor? It may be the person next door or it can be someone a world away. The only way you know how you can help is to ask, and to understand.
When I was a child my family lived in Hobbs, New Mexico, where it rarely snowed. Wintery weather was always a surprise. I remember coming out of church on a Sunday morning with a pristine layer of white covering everything. The overlay muffled sound and made me think the whole world had gone eerily silent and peaceful, fresh and new. Today when I got up and looked out the window, I thought about those yesteryear gifts of winter and related it to how God works in my life. He muffles the noise of discontent and negativity and makes all things new and fresh. He covers me with forgiveness, and creates in me a renewed spirit, one able to be compassionate and merciful, eager for the next amazing moment along the journey that is my life.
Sharon Vander Meer 