Agape allelon...Love one another.

Yes, this sounds like something our grandmothers use to tell us about our siblings or something we learned in Sunday School. But I wonder if it isn't more appropriate in today's world than we might think.

Consider all the issues we are having globally...the Crimea, Sudan, the Middle East, even the US of A...it seems that the news is always about one person or group trying to take control over another, if not physically at least mentally or philosophically. How much better would the world be or seem if we all took a step back and simply loved one another. I know, there are some of my readers who are thinking I've gone off the deep end or at least have become a bit corny.

But, is it really all that hard.

Let's take it a bit slower and closer to home. When you were in the grocery store last time did you take just a second to let someone else go ahead of you in an aisle or did you get frustrated by someone getting ahead of you? What about taking the short time it takes to say hello to the produce man and acknowledge the quality of the produce. What about greeting the checker by name...they wear name tags...or maybe just the young person, or senior adult, who is packing your groceries into those bags. How much time does it take to just acknowledge that they are human and to show them a little love by saying "hi, how's your day going?" The simple expression of concern for another person is lifting to both parties.

OK...so you think that isn't so hard? What about saying hello to your neighbors? I read somewhere recently that there is very high percentage, over half, of Americans who profess to not know the names of their neighbors. Listen to the news sometime...when there is some tragedy in a neighborhood we hear the reporters ask the neighbors about the person who was affected, but what is the response? Usually, more often than not, we hear that they were "quiet people, never caused any problems, kept to themselves. Call me crazy, but, I would rather my neighbors said that I was a great guy who would shovel the snow for the widow next door or coach the little league, the first to help those around me, was part of the community and will be missed than that I was a quiet guy who kept to myself.

What about at work? What would it take to be the guy who shovels the snow off the walkway in the morning for your fellow workers, or makes the coffee, reloads the copiers whether then need it or not just so that someone else won't have to do it? What would it really take away from us to help the person who is working overtime to get out that project even if it is just proofreading or collating or...? What about just bringing a cup of coffee to the person in the next cubicle when we get one for ourselves? Or, here is an even easier one...what about just saying hello in the morning to those around us by name...I'm not talking about the generic, grumbly hi as we walk by their workspace I mean a real Hi Bob or Hi Mary how's it going today. Do anything interesting last night? Showing someone a little love is not so hard. It is about respecting them as human beings, God's people. It can't be superficial and count, you have to mean what you say, but still, it isn't all that hard to invest a bit of time, a bit of yourself, a bit of love in those we meet in this world.

It is interesting that in John 13 34:45 or in Luke 10:27 when Jesus calls us to love one another or to love our neighbors as ourselves, respectively, he doesn't say we have to like each other, or like what the other does, or like who the other likes, all He asks of is it to Love, Agape Love, one another, unconditional love. He says that by this they will know we are his disciples. Somehow in the world today we have this feeling that we have to like someone before we can love them. But that is not point. The whole idea of loving someone regardless of who they are or what they do or what they believe is very empowering and freeing.

If we would all just take the time to love those around us, to care a bit more about them, the world just might be a little bit better. Let's accept that we are all different, that no two people will see the same thing exactly the same. Let's take a few minutes to celebrate that the world is not made up of millions of us but by millions of individuals all of whom need to be loved a bit more. Step outside our comfort zones a bit and just unexpectedly love one person today, let them know that they are special. It is not hard, I promise, and it gives us as "lovers" a great feeling for making one life a little brighter. In time maybe we can change the world? What is that expression about a butterfly in the Amazon..flap your wings and see what happens.