November 30

“I love humans now as I never loved them before when I depended on them.  It is in solitude that I am learning to truly remember what I have lived forgetting.”  Elise Boulding, 1975, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 11/8

Ms. Boulding has summed up in two sentences what I’m only beginning to understand about my ability to love.  As long as I depend on other humans I cannot possibly love them in the way that is truly love.  True love never seeks anything for itself.  It only seeks to give of itself.  In her solitude Ms. Boulding was able to remember this.  Perhaps that is what being saved is all about--remembering what it was like to be one with God.  Jesus Christ enables us to remember and now we must not forget again.  In the meantime we must no longer depend on other humans as we have ever since we left the Garden of Eden.  It is in only depending upon God, our Father, that we are freed to love our fellow human beings.  This is very simplistic yet we struggle with the whole idea.  This is why solitude is so important.  It is there that we can block out the world and hear God.  Unfortunately, in much of the world today solitude is considered “quaint”.  With all the electronics we have and the portability of them, we do not have to be alone anymore at any time.  Man’s own thoughts are not even available to him anymore, let alone God’s.  If we were to take the time to be alone with God, however, we would discover that He is all we need.

“The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”  John 16:32