Love

Apparently, living in Utah has had some effect on the frequency of my blog posts. So here's one for you...

First of all, being back in Salt Lake has continued to be wonderful. I moved into Heidi and Daniel's home the Tuesday after I got here. Getting settled into a place, hanging up clothes, unpacking boxes was pure joy! Living out of a suitcase and being shuffled from one bed to another for a month is just not fun. I am so grateful. I also started working at PF Chang's again. I am happy to be back with my coworkers. I missed many of them very much.

Secondly, as I had predicted, I've been reading both The Much Too Promised Land, by Aaron David Miller and No Man is an Island, by Thomas Merton. Both are excellent reads. The first time I sat down with No Man and dug in I was taken aback. Merton just goes for it. He speaks a lot of truth. There's one passage in particular that I've made quite a few people read so instead of hunting some of you down to share it with you, I'll just post it here. As Heidi put it, it is the best description of how to love someone.

"It is clear, then, that to love others well we must first love the truth. And since love is a matter of practical and concrete human relations, the truth we must love when we love our brothers is not mere abstract speculation: it is the moral truth that is to be embodied and given life in our own destiny and theirs. This truth is more than the cold perception of an obligation flowing from moral precepts. The truth we must love in loving our brothers is the concrete destiny and sanctity that are willed for them by the love of God. One who really loves another is not merely moved by the desire to see him contented and healthy and prosperous in this world. Love cannot be satisfied with anything so incomplete. If I am to love my brother, I must somehow enter deep into the mystery of God's love for him. I must be moved not only by human sympathy but by that divine sympathy which is revealed to us in Jesus and which enriches our own lives by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

"The truth I love in loving my brother cannot be something merely philosophical and abstract. It must be at the same time supernatural and concrete, practical and alive. And I mean these words in no metaphorical sense. The truth I must love in my brother is God Himself, living in him. I must seek the life of the Spirit of God breathing in him. And I can only discern and follow that mysterious life by the action of the same Holy Spirit living and acting in the depths of my own heart."

Since not much more can be said to follow such powerful words, I'll end with that.

Peace.