Thought #9

Hatred stirs up strife, 

but love covers all offenses.

- Proverbs 10: 12

When you walk down the street, tell me what you see.  Tell me, do you see adulterers and drunks, loners prostitutes and a man slumped in a dingy damp box for a house because he let his cocaine addiction get the best of him?  And tell me, do you see gays and gluttons, liars and thieves, murderers, pedophiles and that chic who got knocked up your sophomore year of high school?  Finally, tell me the reflection you see when you walk past a window.

Pass yourself off as just another person.  You blend in.  You are one in the same as other passer-byes of this world.  Your reflection is them.  What do you see?

Know love.  At this moment know love.  Look at your reflection; what defines who you are?  This is not a matter of right and wrong, of righteous and sinners; it is a matter of love and specifically of love covering all offenses.

You know, we walk through our days as part of a crowd.  And we come along side those who hurt.  And we stand with the oppressed.  And we cry with those who mourn just holding her for all the care in the world.  And we laugh when others make jokes.  And we party when the day calls for a celebration.  And we are intimate.  Still.  Silent.  And this life is all of our experience - together.

Now tell me, what do you see when you walk down Newbury?  Skip the world.  Skip the problems.  Skip the bombs and the blood and the fights and the wars.  Skip what everyone tells you to see because in the end all that matters is love.

So you, you love.  You must love.

Then you, cover all offenses; let your love cover all offenses.

Now, tell me, what do you see?