Love

1 John 3:18
"Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,but in truth and action."

To love someone truly is to see them as Christ sees them. To love in truth is to see our neighbor in Christ, as Christ and for Christ. For they are handiworks of His and no matter how ugly, mean, poor, different, rude and just plain annoying they may seem on the surface, at their core is the person who was created in the image of God. At their core is the person for whom Christ suffered, died and was raised to forgive and redeem.

It is hard to see people in this light since we are so used to seeing ourselves and each other only on the surface. We lose touch with what is going on deeper. Our time in silence and solitude helps us to cut through the fog and to see ourselves and each other with clarity.

This clarity is a clarity of love and when we see people as Christ coming to us and recognize they are His beloved, then our love cannot remain idle, we must move out in love.