We're going to have hard times. No matter who becomes President
we're going to have hard times. Every day, for whatever reason, someone will
die or someone will get sick or someone will have an accident, or someone will
be without a job. No human being on earth can solve all that. That doesn't mean
we shouldn't be compassionate; it means we should. But there's another point I
want to share today.
I've always "preached" how we need one another, we need
to love one another; but there's something more. We need to know that God loves
us. We need to trust in his love! We need to know that we can turn to him in
our hearts, no matter what. I woke up with that thought, not that it's a new
thought, but suddenly, in the night, I realized that's what's been bothering me
so much lately.
Some people perhaps out of fear, some few people possibly even out
of a need to manipulate, out of a myriad of different reasons, which I cannot
judge, some people are threatening others with the loss of God. Some people are
saying or implying, in essence, if you vote this way, or if you don't vote that
way, you will separate yourself from God, now and for eternity (for eternity,
if you aren't sorry). I don't know a lot about how eternity works, but you
cannot separate yourself from God on this earth. He is always there. He is
always here loving us.
Some of my Catholic friends might sputter "but mortal
sin". Grave sin, committed with full knowledge and willing consent, still
doesn't keep God from loving someone. Let's not forget about the Good
Shepherd. It doesn't keep a person from loving his or her family and friends.
It doesn't keep their family and friends from loving them. As a matter of fact,
because of those two things, full knowledge and consent, you and I cannot judge
anyone – not anyone at all - of actually subjectively committing a mortal sin
or "being in mortal sin", because we cannot see into anyone's heart
or mind. Only God can do that. And he is so much more loving than we are even
capable of. He is so much more loving than we can even imagine.
When hard times come, and they are here for us all at one time or
another, God is there. God is here! He loves us. He wants us to love him. We
can say to God all day, "I love you", but we need to remember also that
"He loves us!" If we don't believe someone loves us, it makes it harder to love them, doesn't it? Think about someone who has been hateful to you.
Think of the woman who cut you off on the freeway or the guy behind you who
honked loud and hard because you weren't speeding fast enough for him. We don't
think they like us very well (at least in that moment), do we? And how do we
respond? We usually don't like them very well either, do we?
After being in a cult; after then hearing for years, from some
people, that God would smite us, God will punish us, if we make some misstep;
after trying to stay close to him and saying, "I love you," I finally
started adding another prayer to that: "I love you. I believe in your love
for me. Help me to believe more in your love for me."
