In the hush of any morning, while the humans in my household are still dreaming, my fur babies and I settle into the corner chair of the study and greet the morning with a cup of jasmine green tea. Today, it just so happens that the garden is resting under a blanket of ice and snow. My kitten chatters to the birds flitting back and forth from trees to the feeder. In this picture, next to Misty’s cat tree, you’ll notice a shelf full of succulents wintering indoors. I’ve killed three of them already because I haven’t listened to their peculiar needs!
I struggle with succulents, obviously. They are persnickity, demanding introverts, needing exacting circumstances to survive. They like being left alone, not waited on, not touched, and definitely not crowded. And just when I conclude that they are usless plants, they will pop out with the most extraordinary blooms!
I know some people like this!
My struggling succulents remind me this morning how different we all are and how often we mistakenly show love for others in the ways we receive love, as opposed to the way they deserve to be loved.
So, how are we to love?
Love as Jesus loved.
Take time to re-read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) paying special note of how Jesus tailored his love to the needs of the people to whom he ministered: the child, the scholar, the marginalized leper, the penniless widow, the entrepeneur tax-gatherer, the farmer, the hired help, the rich man, the blind begger, the adulterer, the housewife, and the stranger in a strange land. All were uniquely loved according to their needs.
How do you love?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.