Like loving

John 14:18-31

We live two lives: we live life in our thoughts and we live life as our experience of the present moment. Freedom comes as our life in thoughts diminishes and our experience of the present moment predominates. Freedom comes through learning how to balance thoughts and the present moment.

     If you are sharp, you'll know right off that this is not a quotation form John. This isn't even a Christian scripture but i feel it ties in to today's reading from John. It speaks to me today as a Christian that has just come through Easter and also as someone who is still in mourning for the loss of a loved one.

      I recall hearing someone say that the beloved never dies if we keep them in our hearts and thoughts.  I know it is meant to make us feel better but I think it has a wrong twist. When we think about a beloved or anything too much, we lose track of the present. We may hold onto a memory of a loved one but in so doing we are not living in the present, we are not moving forward.

        However, if we love as our departed loved and translate the love of that person into action as we live our daily lives, that dearly departed will stay part of the living and we stay very much a part of the present. I think that is as true for a loved one as it is for Jesus.  It is as if to say it is not enough to go to church each Sunday at relive the last Supper. To  be a Christian and move forward, to be a true disciple, we can and should go to church but a critical part is to move forward in and through the love of Christ.  Showing a person is alive through like loving.