“Love the Lord your God with your entire mind, personality, and capability” is no small thing, yet crucially, the road of this love is meant to be easy.
We are to be lenient and accommodating in matters dealing with God.
God gets nothing from our arduous effort, and if our arduous effort is directed towards the instrument and not the outcome, then we get nothing from it.
“Love your fellow as yourself” is no big thing, yet in truth, the road of this love is meant to challenge us for life.
We are to be strict and demanding in matters dealing with other people.
Every human being is a living ikon of the Divine, in actuality or in potentia – God has no image made of wood, stone, or metal, but one of flesh, blood, and mind. In our holy treatment of other people – in taking an elevated approach to other people – we discover, honor, and further reveal that image, in them and – crucially – in ourselves.
At home, at work, in the street, on the bus.
In Jerusalem, London, Tehran, Beirut, or Bethlehem.
It’s not easy.
It’s not supposed to be.
It’s where the real growth is.
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In truth, the first road is reached via the second. Try relating to a stranger – or someone who annoys you – as a living ikon of the infinite Creator of the entire kosmos, and see what it does for your love of God.