Relationships of Love

Feb 18, 2015 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

Last night Jim and I went to the movies. Before the show were some commercials. One was for Android showing different animals playing together that are usually not friendly. For example, a tiger was lying beside a bear and a goat was trying to jump up on a horse. The message – We can all get along despite our differences.

Another commercial was for Coca-Cola and showed a coke spilling on an Internet server. The soda then flowed throughout the world spreading goodness. Where two people were fighting – they suddenly were amicable. Where someone was sad – they were happy. You get the idea.

Showing love to others – especially those people outside our inner circle or even our tribe is not just supposed to happen. It has to happen. We are simply one big group of humanity living on this giant planet spinning through space. We must get along.

I’ve been reading a book by Bob Roberts called Bold As Love. He talks about the importance of love and friendship crossing lines of race, culture, and religion. I love what he has to say, but I really love the title – Bold As Love.

Loving another human being is not a wimpy action. It requires three crucial components:

Courage: The ability to step out of your comfort zone and open yourself up to another person.

Transparency: Showing others who you really are – not the façade that is societally acceptable, but the true you.

Vulnerability: Anytime you open the door to your true self, you risk rejection. But it is so worth the risk.

Now in a practical day-to-day life, we weave out of many levels of love. Our relationships are like concentric circles around us. We have the inner circle of family, then close friends, then other friends, then acquaintances, and so forth all the way out to our touches with the grocery clerk or our banker. And in each of those circles, we love in varying degrees. I don’t have the same relationship with my waitress at Denny’s as I do my best friend. But I must still love them both.

And what about outside of my tribe? What about people of other cultures, races, or religions? Am I willing to open my heart to them in love?

Love does not mean we always agree or live life the same way. But a true life of love is filled with kindness, respect, and valuing. That kind of love can extend throughout your neighborhood, your city, your country, and around the world. Love is the unifying hope of humanity and the only way we can live in true relationship.

How do you live out a heart and life of love?

~ Jim and Jerolyn