Alive

You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000


Stumbled across this quote tonight and it just stuck. How often do we get caught up in details, busyness, stress, etc.? I know I do. But how simple our directive really is: Look, Listen, Choose, Act. We hear it in church as "love God, love people", and in essence it's no different.

To love people you have to look. You have to see them, see their pain, see their hurt, see their need and in order to see it - you have to be looking. You also have to be listening. Listening to God, what people are telling you, and to what they're not telling you. It's not that difficult because most people just want to be heard.

Once you've done that, you have to choose. You have to choose between action or inaction; between doing or not doing; between loving or not loving. I used to see a lot of grey areas, but the more I examine the directives from God, I see things as do or don't, less middle ground.

If I am not actively loving someone - am I hating them? We take definitions to the extreme and want to say No. But what is it really to not like - to not love? Is it not hate?

If I see a need and don't act - is there a simplicity there? I don't think so. If I encounter someone who is hurting but don't look or listen, am I really living? What is life if we're not here for each other?