We all have fixed in our minds, to some extent, that we are individuals on this journey and that we must take care of ourselves if we are to survive. Our survival instincts, our natural response to any type of threat is to strike back - blow for blow. Sometimes we end up hurting others. All the time, we end up hurting ourselves. We are not soldiers. We are not fighters. We are not designed to be enemies. We were made to be friends, companions. There is no wonder why we are so vulnerable to one another, no matter how hard we try to keep people at bay. Someone slips through the cracks and seeps into our heart and soul. We feel them. We care for them. We were designed to love one another. However, we do not always honor our design or our designer, which means, we are not really honoring ourselves.
Delving deeper into our interconnectedness – we all have been open, vulnerable, hurt, down, recovering, and trying again. No matter who you are – someone has lied to you, cheated on you, hurt you, betrayed you, loved you and left you. The older you are, the more likely you have been through this pattern before, perhaps many times. Now what?
We have arrived at this place, face-to-face, with all our baggage. Each holding memories full of love, laughter, pain, tears and lastly hope. Hope that this time will be different than the last. Hope that this time it will work. Hope that this time we will be victorious. We hope for the best. We all hope for love – male or female, and no one gender more than the other. We were born into togetherness, into unity, from one another to one another. If we are to truly get in touch with our roots, our history; we don’t need to go to a specific place on the map or in time, we can look right into the eyes of another to find ourselves. We only need to remove the wall that separates us to see the truth that unites us. You never experience anything alone. Everything that you have ever felt or will ever feel are the feelings of the world. You have a slice of the pie. You have a piece of the puzzle, your piece. With just your piece its impossible to discern the full image. Oft times, you gain better understanding of your piece in the context of the other pieces directly connected to you. Who are we to say which pieces of the puzzle are necessary, or which people in our lives are significant or which relationships to sever, given our miniscule scope.
The quickest way to world peace is to love the person standing next to you. The quickest way to inner peace is by that same token. I cannot love if I cannot love the person I’m with. I cannot give if I cannot give to my family and friends. I cannot breathe without sharing your air. I cannot live without placing my piece of the puzzle down and connecting it to yours. The image only unfolds as we see how much we need one another to better understand ourselves.
We don’t have to look farther than our most recent natural disaster – the tsunami in Japan, to understand the ripple effect of pain. When we are shaken to our core, a flood of emotions consume us and everything around us, and even far across the world, there are strong rains and winds, the aftermath of our turmoil. When the dust settles nothing is the same – the world has changed. We have all experienced the same event, some directly, others indirectly, but we are all modified forever. A handful of sand is not a beach, a cup full of water is not an ocean. A friend is not a friend without another individual to receive them. You see, we cannot exist without one another. In order to truly live, we have but one choice – to connect our piece of the puzzle to the grand design.
Galatians 6:2 – “Carry each others burdens and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
1Peter 3:8 – “Finally, all of you be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”
1 John 3:11 – “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
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