"You died for all not just for me"

self-aware apologia: the problem with blog-neglect is that it does not cure my verbosity. i'm still verbose (especially in this educational little spiritual boot-camp i've been in lately), i just have it all repressed and pent up and whatnot. prepare to be lambasted by words....

ahem...

thought one: of definitions

IGNORANCE: not knowing something you should know
STUPIDITY: not caring that you don't know something you should know; being unwilling to learn
INTELLIGENCE: grasping and utilizing relevant knowledge
WISDOM: knowing when/ how to use intelligence and other virtues to produce good

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thought two:

You are not here to be loved, said my understanding to me. Where'd you get THAT?

You are here to love.
But you are here to love.
But, really, you are here to love.

We are fed by the love of God- it streams from the hills, it descends to the plains- but God condemn the ignorance that believes all that grace stops with us. All the love we receive from the Father, all the love others so painstakingly show us- to TEACH us, to EMPOWER us, to ENERGIZE us into loving others.

Oh, that my words be not trite!

Which others do we love? Well, the beloved brethren. For one. Once the flesh is silenced even just a little, this is easy. Fun, beautiful. Enlightening. Truth: sometimes the brethren can be pains, but that's a relief. We do get to sprinkle in a bit of agape with our reactionary phileo for these increasingly-blatant image-bearers of God.

So yes, the fervent affection takes effort on occasion, but unfortunately, we are way too often reciprocated for our love to "count." We must search for some analogy a bit more akin to the God/us ironic agape by which we live.

Others... the other... what if you treated every person you met tomorrow (today!) as if you loved them? No... really loved them. As if you cared more about them than any others. To EACH one...

As if they were the One. As if you wanted to gain their love. (No, that's not it, exactly, but the concept... the motivation!)

Would the word "woo" be too extreme? If you tried to woo the next 5 persons you met... (not to yourself, blockhead... not to yourself..!)

...because, if we are to love as Christ has loved us, did He not undeniably, unforgettable, un-get-over-ably woo us?! Was He not (is He not perpetually) achingly sweet to us? Looking for ways, as it were, to "impress" us, to "convince," to "persuade" us to repentance, to discipleship?

Am I making the Almighty too mushy? Excuse my confines of words...

Should I have emphasized that this is NOT TO BE (CANnot be) done in the flesh? Not that of which I'm trying so hard to speak (to be literal: write). Don't go off trying to charm the world with your wretched body of death that was supposed to be crucified a long time back. (o-kay!)

But feed on Christ. ("I am the bread of life. Come to ME! My blood is drink indeed... I live because of the Father... so he who feeds on Me will live because of me...") We're not talking average life here. THIS is NOT NATURAL. this does not compute in the reality of pretty much everybody in this world. This is spiritual living... needing spiritual food. Christ is our fuel. (Keep me from blaspheme...) We are to internalize the life of the Spirit- without flesh to contain the rivers of life/love (is there a difference?) springing from God's unceasing action.

I'm too theoretical. Let me conclude this part.

Let the unfathomable Person of God consume you. And then, crucifying any hint of self-seeking, woo others with Christ. Better said, allow HIM the smile, the conversation, the sincere un-timed 5 minutes of listening

thought three: (if i make a new thought, will it seem like i'm not writing as much?)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION (i am an american!):

~do not preserve thyself. (okay, so that's not "practical" per se, but stop being lazy. that's a free card. you get to decide how to enact it.)

~seek subjects for purposeful love. (not projects. not objects. Persons. think about it. consider. start seeing the humans that walk in front of you.)

~fix thyself on Christ. obsess with Him. (how many times in an hour can you distract yourself with thinking about Him? memorize His words. hang on them. respond to them to His face.)

~smile. make eye-contact (holy-ly. :-D) start conversations...

~start conversations. how can you verbalize the good news of God if you can't have a decent dialogue about ANYTHING with a stranger. heaven, help! but i digress...

~take mental notes about people. remember what they told you. what they're telling you.

remember who is in their families. remember when is their birthday. remember what gets them emotional (in a good way) to talk about. talk about it.

pay attention. this is an immortal with whom you speak. what ever you have to do after this is irrelevant compared to the eternal worth of the being you have been privilaged to have speak to you. don't look around. if you need to talk to that kid who is right behind the person to whom you're speaking, God will bring him around again. (i don't believe in fate. i don't believe in chance. i trust God. don't argue with me.)

~be blatant. be obvious. (be pure and sweet.)... be affectionate. it'll surprise people like crazy.

...but be anonymous too. be sneaky. be creative. be proactive.

~collaborate. with me. with whomever you can find. my brothers, my sisters, we have 6.5+ billion souls upon whom to attribute worth.

let us occupy ourselves (ie: get busy.)