Joy and delight

This week’s gospel reading reminds us of Jesus’ words:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

John 15:12

It seems so simple and easy and yet, as those gathered for Zoom Church this morning agreed, it is perhaps not so easy when we think about all of our interactions; encounters with those who do not respect our space, or seem to be behaving selfishly (as I know I am more than capable of!), those who frustrate us, or those who we do not understand. When we move away from thinking about our friends and family and those who are very much part of our lives because we have chosen it to be so, it is actually much more difficult to ‘love one another’ without discrimination.

I have, for a number of years now, prayed at the beginning and end of each day that I would see those who I am due to meet with, and those whom I have encountered throughout the day, as God sees them…perhaps that is where I first began thinking about ‘seeing through God’s lens.’ I have come to find it ever so slightly easier to admit that I am seeing what I want to see, or what takes the least effort, when I am frustrated by someones behaviour or actions. To sit with the memory of what has occurred throughout the day in the Examen Prayer, asking that God would turn my sight to that which God sees, has been so liberating – and there has been much to delight in and find joy.

Contemplating that idea that we are ALL wonderfully made has allowed God’s joyful creative Spirit to break through and shift my focus. I commend this very simple prayer to you as you move into and away from each interaction this week:

Loving God, help me to see this person through your eyes, that I may know something of your joy and delight in them. Give me the humility I need to learn something from them. Amen.