Sacred Life Sunday: Perspective...

When I got up, I fixed a cup of coffee, put a DVD in the player and got back under the comforter. My idea for this day was to watch movies. Since I've been doing so much clearing of my living space, schlepping "stuff" from one place to another, several hours of relaxation seemed like a good idea.

I'm always careful about what I watch and try to be mindful of what kinds of thoughts I put in my head. There's been more than one occasion when I've stopped a movie in the middle and quit watching it because it was full of violence... or filthy language... or crummy values. My NetFlix queue is an interesting and eclectic collection of documentaries and movies.

This morning it was "Mother Teresa". It's a very pleasant movie but also challenging. She was a small woman but packed a powerful message.

This isn't about religion though. As Mother Teresa said herself, it's not important whether one is a Muslim, a Catholic, a Jew, a Buddhist or a Hindu. It is only important that you are a good Muslim, a good Catholic, a good Jew, a good Buddhist or a good Hindu.

She wore her faith like a gentle shawl and it enveloped everyone who came in contact with her. That, in my opinion, is goodness from the inside out.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.

I felt the smallness of my own life and the self-absorption I allow all too frequently. It's easy to get caught up in what we want, what we believe we need. We recognize our hunger pangs and all the places that feel unfilled. We look for ways to be fed and comforted for the things we believe we lack. She made an important point. In order to be fed, we need to feed. In order to be comforted, we need to comfort. To be loved, we need to love.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

The movie reminded me who we are and why we're here. Very few people are Mother Teresa. Very few people do extraordinary things. I think the universe sends us extraordinary people in all shapes and forms as examples - from saints to bodhisattvas - but that isn't because we need to emulate them. We just need to learn from them. Most people are householders. They have families and jobs. We can't all go out into the world and save it.

Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.

It's easy to think we have to do something huge, something magnanimous, to make a difference. We don't. We touch each other, one by one.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

It's really not all that difficult. It's not even about charity. It's about a way of life. It's about being loving when that is challenging and difficult. It's about loving each other, even when we think someone is making a bad choice or a choice we don't agree with. (Being rather judgmental by nature, this one truly challenged me.)

The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.

Perhaps this is meant to remind all of us that we are not small and that the things we do, say and believe do matter on a larger scale. It reminds us to not become overwhelmed by the enormity of all there is to be done to alleviate suffering in the world.

It starts here:

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?

(All quotes from Mother Teresa)

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