The Hug IS Real!!

 

Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done,

 

Yesterday, Paul described love positively; today, he tells us what love is not.  Today, he sets a boundary to help us distinguish what is out of bounds when it comes to expressing hesed (completely undeserved kindness and generosity) to others.  Yet, I don’t think Paul’s list was meant to be exhaustive or exclusive.  Paul is seeking to awaken our sacred imagination.  I invite you to ponder when a moment you recently felt unconditionally and unceasingly loved?  Who shared that love?  What stirred in you?  Try your best to recall and recreate the experience ~ the physical sensations, the emotional experience, and thoughts that still stir in response.  Hold and be held by that memory and moment. 

 

Now, bring to mind a time when you experienced judgment or the hurt from a fellow featherless biped.  Maybe someone was jealous and stole your good idea.  Maybe some walked into your life with their nose in the air ~ like the Sneetches on Beaches who had stars upon thars.  Maybe someone was arrogant, brash, and bullying.  Too much of what we hear on the news falls into the category of examples of what isn’t hesed, love.  This, in turn, activates the negativity part of our brain that wants to protect us.  After all, we reason, if that act of homophobia, racism, sexism, dead-naming, prejudice, or harmful hate happened to them, it could happen to us.  We end up fixated and focusing on the negative as a way to shelter and shield ourselves.  But it can also block and barricade the good from penetrating our hearts, souls, and lives.  The negativity in our mind becomes a brash bully that says, “What good is recalling a hug from a friend, that won’t help you in the ‘real’ world”.  Only that hug happened in the real world.  Life is complicated, contradictory, and complex. 

 

Today, ponder where love has shown up so far in your life this year.  May you trust in the goodness and God-ness who sets boundaries to explore and experiment with hesed still today.  Amen.