I wonder why it is that people (myself included) are often so eager to make it on their own.
Why are we afraid to ask for help? Why can’t we be vulnerable even with those we love the most?
I was talking to a pal yesterday and he was talking about how he reckons being loved is more important than loving. I’m not sure that that’s the case; but often it seems to me that it is much, much more difficult to be loved than to love. Accepting the love of friends, family, even God, means a certain level of acceptance of who I am… which is scary. I wonder, though… is it possible to really love if you can’t BE loved? And by that, i don’t mean love must always be reciprocated or that the popular people are also the people who love the most. What I mean, I think, is that our calling is not only to love God, but to BE loved by Him- it’s in accepting that astounding divine love that we can learn what it is to love on a human level. And we’re called to love our neighbour as ourselves- which necessarily entails a love of the self. Not in an arrogant, self-aggrandising way but in an acceptance of ourselves as beloved children of the Father-and as beloved friend, daughter, sister…
I don’t as such know where I’m going with this.
I’m just very aware of a general reluctance to open the self to the other- whether that other be friend or “enemy”, and I wonder what the world, our relationships, our politics even, might look like if we as individuals and as the church were more open- more willing to be loved and to love, more willing to be vulnerable and to live as community rather than in isolation.
Tell me stories.
Mags said,
March 13, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
From Roddy’s blog
“I was reading an interesting article that commented that we are now growing over-used to the idea of ‘billion’ given the credit squeeze and pensions and stuff. Perhaps we need to get back to the notion of ‘one’, not as an individual but as one together, one with everyone, one hope, purpose, law cor everyone… Hmmm I wonder what that would do to the credit squeeze?”
I think we might be kind of used to the idea that we’re meant to love everyone. But then you look at it “love your neighbour as yourself” – it’s on an individual level. Indeed – what would getting back to the notion of one do to the world?
Anyhoos – onto my one little thought: is it ‘love’ if you don’t know how to accept love or is it charity? A type of love, yes, but not the friendship type.
I’m so glad that you’re getting round to the thinking that all we need to do is be friends
x
domestikate84 said,
March 14, 2009 @ 12:06 am
Blogola = happy Kate. I’ll call back later with a more constructive comment; at the moment I’m not awake enough! xx
Chris Hoskins said,
March 27, 2009 @ 8:56 am
It is much easier to love than to be loved.
It’s much easier to see the good in others while only seeing the negatives in ourselves, at least, thats my experience.
Even when we start to accept that other people could even like us, there seems to be a niggling doubt (in my head) that they don’t really know what we’re like.
This is all sounding very negative, isn’t it?
I guess thats why we need our friends, to remind us that we are loveable and likeable! Because we all are.