I mean for you to include and embrace them all, the entire scope, circle and spectrum of what surrounds you, and by doing so, embracing Me even in the least of these, your brethren.
Try to be understanding, even if you don't understand. All you need to understand is that I love them, and so should you.
You can love them; it's okay to love them, and you should love them. Why wait for everyone to be perfect before you're going to love them?
I made people in My own image, and one of My qualities is that I like to surprise you, and it's a quality I have passed on to My children: the ability to surprise you and come up with qualities about them you wouldn't have expected, the ability to touch your heart and become more valuable to you than you ever might have expected. The treasure chest at the end of the rainbow is quite often discovered right at home in the very heart of someone you might have taken for granted. That's the kind of surprises I like to make: You can travel the whole wide world in search of your treasure, and then you return tired and weary and find it right at home, where it was hidden right before your very eyes all along...
It boils down to the discovery that loving your neighbor as thyself and loving Me with all your heart and might, those 2 great commandments, aren't really 2 separate things, but can virtually wind up being one and the same thing, which is why I said, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me." And one of My greatest ways of conveying My love to you is through another human being, so, it can easily be that you're going to find Me right there, in the heart of another person.
Seeing Me in someone in spite of their flaws is a big lesson I'm trying to teach you. If you're not willing to put up with or confront their flaws, how are you ever going to die for them, if you can't even stand to live with them?
Only if you sow into people’s lives can you reap from them the fruit of their friendship!
While with some acquaintances and friendships the mind can be helpful, it is the heart, not the mind that will draw them to you. It is the Spirit that will thrill their hearts and minds and refresh and quench their weary and thirsty souls, not so much the input that comes of the mind.
The art of seeing Me in others is the art of believing that in that imperfection, that momentary ugliness of the caterpillar or cocoon, there's a higher purpose and a greater beauty hidden than meets the eye, that shall be revealed with time. The lesson could be entitled "Wait & See!" Wait & see what I'm still going to do, what that ugly duckling is still destined to become! Wait to see the final outcome before you judge or make up your mind about someone and before you stick them in your mental drawers or label them.
There's something fundamental you have in common with any of your brothers & sisters, no matter how different you are at the time being, and it should help you focus more on that common goal than any differences or difficulties in getting along.
It should help give you an incentive to break the ice and show greater acceptance, greater understanding of them and what they're going through, knowing that I will change them in time, as I have changed you.
You've got to find some common ground with them in order to help them, in order to save them.
You can't expect people to be perfect, nor anywhere near perfect, nor should you hinge your love on them living up to your expectations.
Stop charging a price that they could never pay! Stop demanding something they could never fulfill or live up to. You're humanly not strong enough to fulfill any such expectations yourself, so how can you make those demands on anybody else? Why not just accept everybody for who they are?
If you decide to wholeheartedly listen, you will also find a way to bring Me into the conversation. But you're not always willing to forsake all and follow Me on the spot into the heart of that person.
That's not how you're going to convince them that you love them with a love that is ready to lay down your life for them!
That's no way they're ever going to believe it, no way to strengthen their faith in your love for them. But you should.
Is your love strong and unconditional enough to show them that they're more important to you than whatever you were doing?
As long as what you're doing is not immediately involved with the salvation of another human soul, it couldn't possibly be more important than hearing those closest to you out & really listening to what they've got to say. Listen to them with My ears, and you'll also have My words to give back to them as a reply.
Folks around you are never going to be completely convinced that you truly love them, unless you learn to dedicate yourself to them wholeheartedly, to listen to them as if they were the only thing that mattered at that moment. That's the way I talked to My disciples, and they knew that what I had to say mattered.
Seeking first the Kingdom: What is the Kingdom? What does it consist of? People! First of all, look after My people, and I'm going to look after you!
Loving your neighbor as yourself requires some skill. It requires some effort. It takes something, and you've got to put something into it, it costs something. It costs something to find out what makes a person tic, and how to solve a problem.
That's the challenge of love.
Learn to focus on their very inner being, their inner core and soul. Learn to behold the flame, the candle of their inner sanctuary, that what really makes them burn and tic from the inside.
By far the more important to discover and explore is the "inner space" of your fellow human beings.
You're going to have to focus, tune in and zoom in on them, really perceive them, absorb and feel them out, hear them out, pay attention to them.
Can you blame people for being attention junkies when there's so little they get of that stuff? Everything else seems to be so much more deserving of attention: making money, shopping, car maintenance, success at work, etc. "And what about me?" the inner soul of so many cries. "Nobody's paying any attention to me. Am I really not worth anything?"
Judging by the amount of attention some people are willing to pay to their spouses, their children and other loved ones, is it any wonder that so many think of themselves as absolutely worthless?
So many are literally starving for the love that so few are willing to give to the needy.
The demand is so great, and all the while the Devil keeps people busy and distracted with other, really much less relevant things and activities than to love others.
Focus on people and their needs. Recognize them for what they are, pay attention to them! Give them your time! Give them your full attention, as if nothing else was more important, and - when it all comes down to it - nothing really is.
Because you can only say in the end that you loved Me as much as you managed to love the least of these, your brethren.
It is a widely spread phenomenon that people think they know another person, even one they're very close to, but in reality haven't really touched the soul of that person, haven't really perceived the true picture of who that person really is.
It is one of the greatest tragedies of the times.
So few people really touch each other's souls these days.
Look again (= re-spect)! Look deeper!
To deal with others teaches you about them and how to handle differences, and, in some extreme case, it teaches you to love, accept and embrace the totally other. It teaches you flexibility and the ability to consider totally different factors and angles than you might previously have been aware of. It opens your eyes to totally new views.
The goal is greater understanding and wisdom. It's greater insight into the human heart, and simultaneously, into the heart of God, as you learn to see the full scope of different angles and possible viewpoints.
You don't need to wonder, "Am I in the wrong film?" because you're never in the wrong film. Sometimes you've merely got to adjust to the script, the setting and the co-actors.
People often demand from each other a degree of perfection that they lack themselves. It's a form of idolatry, because it's trying to make a god out of something that is no god, namely another human being. Instead of turning to Me as the Source of hope, strength, love and inspiration, they turn to an empty vessel like themselves, fragile and imperfect, projecting into them hopes that only I can fulfill.
And thus they create another scapegoat. Someone they can blame for their emptiness, their disappointment, their unhappiness.
In your efforts to learn to work together you cannot forget that it's you alone who is responsible for your own actions and choices, your own victory or defeat, because it is I that give the victory, not any other person. It may have been helpful if the other person would have been strong, wise and quick enough to do the right thing in order to ensure your keeping the victory, but ultimately, your personal victory does not depend on them, but only on whether your own heart is right with Me, whether you're truly and fully leaning on Me and trusting in Me, or not.
Most folks don't even want to bother to find out how to get along with different people. They'd rather just get into their own little work, their jobs or their hobbies. But I've made it so that sooner or later, everybody is going to be confronted with different people, the differences in people, and thus they're forced to at least be confronted with the different view of things, even if they may not accept it. It is so in order to show people that there is such a thing as a different view and perspective, and I'm already hinting through that, that they're all going to get a surprise in the end to find out how I have seen things all along: the totally different view - God's view!
In other words, part of the meaning behind the differences that exist between people and every kind of creature is also a part of the meaning of life: to simply behold the difference of the other and learn from it, absorb it, register it, test it, prove it, and if it turns out to be any good, perhaps assimilate it, or at least accept and tolerate it. All that spells growth. And in the long run, this is one of the major contributing factors to all of you - all of us - growing into One. Simply put, it's love.
Sometimes your marriage seems to stagnate because there seems to be a halt in the process of reaching out to get to know each other more, as if you both already knew everything there is to know about each other... There is hardly anything sadder than that.
Just as there will always be more about Me you can find out and discover and get to know, there will also be constantly new angles and new things you can discover about each other. It doesn't always have to be the same old thing. It takes an effort to dig it up, it takes forsaking some of the old rut, it takes daring to step onto new territory together, that you may not have been familiar with, previously.
It takes trust, that the direction your partner is leading you, will be a good one, even though you may not be familiar with it. It takes trust in Me, that when I gave you each other, I didn't give you a serpent or a stone, but good bread to eat, that I knew what I was doing in creating you for each other and giving you to each other.
There will always come a point where your own tolerance level will be stretched by someone even stranger than you, or stranger than the last "strangest" person you've had to cope with.
It's the "embracing the leper" process in the life of St. Francis and of many true followers of Mine.
Shutting anyone out who doesn't look according to one's own standard simply doesn't live up to what I said about loving the least of My brethren the way you would love Me.
When you can accept and truly embrace the lowest of the low and let them know you're one of them or they're one of yours, that you consider that there is no difference between you, but they're equally loved by Me as you are, then you've become real.
Every person is like a country to explore. You may love it or hate it; consider it foreign or your own, but there is always something to explore. The saddest thing to do is take it for granted. That's what a lot of people do: they never explore their own countries, they're just interested in far-away lands, and equally, they're not very interested in the people they're familiar with.
Oh, they may be very patriotic and act as if they don't love any other country as much as theirs, but - how much do they really know their country - or their loved one? How much time have they really invested in getting to know all there is to know and to find out about them?
You learn even from people who may seem to have much less to give than what you've got. If you're humble enough to be in a receiving and learning position in relation to anyone you come across, you'll find life in general a much greater success, when you come to the end of the road, than if you go through it constantly pushing your own thing on others.
It's the art of being open enough to see Me in everybody you come across, even as different from you as they may seem.
The more they differ from you, the greater the challenge.
Playing the "victim" is a weapon that many people use to get things their way, but you're not doing yourself or them or anybody else a favor by giving in to that. Eventually they're not going to get around taking the responsibility themselves for what's become of their life. Life is what you make it.
Some folks just don't want to be helped, and the best thing you can do for them is let them go and allow Me to teach them the lessons they need through their experiences.
The Enemy is having you focus so much on the flaws of others at times that you start to wonder if you're not better off without them, but I'm here to tell you right now that it isn't so. It may look that way at times, but it isn't really so.
He knows that the only way he can ruin My work which I have begun in you is to use those differences between you, blow them up way out of proportion and make you feel uncomfortable with anybody else.
But remember that "comfortable" isn't necessarily a quality that indicates My will or direction for you at all. In fact, if something or someone becomes uncomfortable for you, then chances are that I'm using them to stir you up from your comfortable rut, which is threatening to lull you to sleep or get you stuck in way you've done it "for all this time now."
So, have a closer look at those uncomfortable someones you don't seem to be able to understand and who bring question marks into your life. Chances are, they're about to be a new revelation for you, introduce another step of progress for you in your life, one you may have been unable to see previously, but nonetheless vital.
What I'll be mostly using in your life to really rub in life's lessons and drive home the point, is people.
You cannot project hopes which can only be fulfilled by Me into a frail human being... You mustn't. Otherwise, disappointment will be your lot, and your cynicism and skepticism will grow and grow, and make you all the harder to get along with people.
You must not look with eyes of expectation, but with eyes of readiness to give. You must not be a vacuum, when it comes to people, but a filler of their vacuums and needs. You must flip from receiving mode (which you're in when you're with Me) into giving mode when you're with people. You cannot expect from people what only I can give.
Stop regarding other people as sources of inspiration who might minister to you and fill your needs. It's not going to happen, because I expect you to be receiving that inspiration straight from Me, and instead of expecting additional inspiration from them, you must pass on what inspiration you get from Me to them.
It’s relatively easy to be attentive and polite with people that aren't constantly around you. The real acid test comes with the people you see every day. If you can still really pay attention to them, and show interest in them, no matter what they've got to say, then you're showing interest and paying attention.
It's no coincidence that "paying" is the thing you must do in order to show or give someone your attention, show you
It's no coincidence that "paying" is the thing you must do in order to show or give someone your attention, show you