Do you remember the old 35mm negatives that were stuffed in the package with the prints?
I found a bunch in the desk drawer I was cleaning out.
Holding them up to the light I strained to make out the images trying to recall the places and faces of whom I had photographed.
This got me thinking about how much easier it is to perceive the situation when looking at the print, the positive, not the negative.
And then I pondered the idea of all the man make rules and regulations.
All the “thou shalt not” rules...don’t do this and don’t do that.
How much easier it would be if we just stuck with two rules, the two positive rules Jesus taught us.
He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”Mathew 22:37-41
This would work if I really looked at my actions and words with real love…and looked at every neighbor...searching for that little bit of Jesus hiding away in each of us.
Dear Lord Jesus
When I’m down and feeling blue
And mucking about in a stew
All the times I’ve had no clue
I forget to call on You.
And when it seems a painful labor
To truly love that dreadful neighbor
I need to ask this special favor
That I may feel Your love to savor.
So on this day I truly pray
That You might show me the way
To think of You when I stray
For my ransom You did pay.
Amen.
