birthday love

i'm finding that i don't know much about love... even though i am positive that i have learned so much in the past few years about loving my brothers and sisters and loving the poor, downtrodden, and outcast. i mean, this is the type of love i know best. community love, family love. but i've got to believe that this is only one face of a multifaceted Love.

as he and i strive to love each other, we both acknowledge that we don't know exactly what love is, what love looks like, how love acts, etc. and, realizing this, i was feeling so helpless and confused and lost and overwhelmed....

but when i read over the infamous love chapter in 1 corinthians, i am reminded that "for now, we know in part..., but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.... now we see but a poor reflection, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now i know in part; then i shall know fully, even as i am fully known."

wow. so maybe it is ok to not have everything figured out. now we know in part what love is, and we do our best to love each other--and somehow that's good enough.

--------------------------

i’m still learning what love is,
when i’m walking close to you,
the best way to hold your hand in mine,
the best way to comfort you.

guess it may
guess it may
guess it may
guess it may,
it may always be this way.
[rosie thomas]

support New Hope Ministries

dearest friends out there in cyberspace (yes, both of you):

As you know, I'm a huge supporter of New Hope Ministries (http://www.newhopeministries-pa.org/index.shtml)

An easy way to help this organization is through a new Yahoo!-powered search engine called GoodSearch.com. GoodSearch will make a donation to New Hope every time you search the internet! It doesn't cost you anything--the money comes from the advertisers and the stores. GoodSearch.com donates half its advertising revenue--about a penny per search--to the charities its users designate. Use it just like any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

So, instead of using Google.com, go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter New Hope Ministries (Mechanicsburg, PA) as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word! The more people who use this site, the more money will go to those who need it.

thanks for your continued support.

happy november

lately i've become very aware of how i try to push my agenda onto other people.

the basis for my judgments is, of course, my own standards and expectations, and i guess i can't help this. BUT it becomes problematic when i assume that what i think is the absolute rule for all people. since when did i become the standard by which everything is measured?

in the end, it comes down to the idea that i think everyone should be just like me--same style, same personality, same interests, same causes, same music, same taste as me, because what i do and say is good and right and perfect. God, i'm such a snot sometimes; help me to realize and live with the diversity in our world.