Wednesday, July 14, 2010

pay attention

"…And when Jesus comes along saying that the greatest command of all is
to love God and to love our neighbor, he too is asking us to pay attention.
If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him
 in what is happening around us and inside us.
If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else
we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes,
that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces
but the life behind and within their faces.
Here it is love that is the frame we see them in."

-Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark

3 comments:

VeeKaye said...

this morning on the way to work i was thinking about the message of love that jesus brings is probably the most compelling and humane message carried by any religion. which other religion holds love up as the prime directive?

this thought was triggered by yet another horrific story of abuses in a faraway land.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

This quotation hits very close to home to a short story I'm working on. It's called "Oblivious" and portrays the struggle between seeing people and not seeing them in our busy lives.

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