One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions. Mk 12:28-34

I heard this while listening to the Mass on my Satellite Radio this morning. I did not catch what was trying to be said to me this morning. I was preoccupied with a work situation and trying to figure out the best course of planning for it. Being a manager of people has its really high highs and it has some low depths that are hard to even fathom in some respects. This week has been a challenging one, and because of that, I honestly was not focusing in the right direction.

Relationships are hard. They take lots of work, and even when you work really hard to make them the best they can be, in some respects they can go south very quickly. Add a work environment to that, and it just becomes even more complex. In my day to day activities I try my best to keep these relationships in a good status. However, as with all relationships, that chance to go south can arise. Whether I am the cause of that trip to a negative area, or if the other person has a perception that changes their thought process about the relationship, things happen. I personally, don’t like being the cause of anyone’s hurtful moments in life, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

If this week would have happened five years ago, I would have just met the hurt with more hurt. I would have, in the moment, found a way to be spiteful. Today, I am trying to find a way to reconcile. I am coming at this from a place of love, and not the hatred that I would have before. I am trying to approach it in the way I would want someone to approach me. I am not saying that I was not at fault in this situation at all, I am just saying that no matter what, I will leave my door open for this person, and will meet them when they are ready to be met. If that never happens, I can not dwell in that. I will still meet that person in a place of love, not hate, when and if they can find the portion of their heart that will forgive me.

I think that so often we carry around a bitterness when we have been hurt. We use words and actions to try to make the other person feel the same pain we feel. No matter how hard we try, the person on the receiving end will never feel the same feeling in the same way. What I mean is, it is pointless to try to hurt someone in the same way we have been hurt, because each person feels pain differently. So, in today’s message, the theme of love finally shows through. If we are really coming from a place of love with everyone, then we are doing the only thing that will work. It is about everyone, Jesus, Family, Friends, and Strangers, all trying to be harmony together… in a relationship that comes from a place of love.