© 2020 Jorgey Krupa
© 2020 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Jorgey Krupa
I’ve been thinking a lot about love and I believe I have reached a deeper understanding of it. I’m writing my they don’t get lost.
At our Sunday study group zoom meeting the situation of increasing violence in our nation was discussed. Feelings of disappointment and sadness were expressed at how many people were mistreating one another. Someone brought up the fact that people lash out because they are angry or hurt and that sometimes a little love from others could go a long way to help their healing. She said they may not be experiencing love from anyone else at that time in their lives and that perhaps it could make a difference.
I thought about that.
Then it was brought out that it wasn’t always easy to love - that some people were inherently “gnarly” and their very nature made it very difficult for anyone to show love to that type of person.
I thought about that too.
It seemed very complicated this subject of love.
Then suddenly my thoughts became very clear and I detected a level of understanding that had not been there only moments before. I felt as though a revelation had been “downloaded” into my mind. I will try to express this new comprehension as best I can, though I know some of you might find this way of thinking to be foolish and idealistic, and perhaps even impossible to achieve.
But I have learned over time that with God all things are possible.
I’d like you to envision a very dark room, with absolutely no light, filled with people. Suddenly a light bulb is turned on. The room becomes bright and people begin to feel more at ease. They can see one another. They no longer exist in the “unknown.”
The question presents itself: Does the light bulb shine to make the people feel better? Does it shine to give them a new perspective, a sense of relief that they can now see what is happening around them?
No. It shines simply because that’s what light bulbs do. They provide light.
Now allow me to replace the light bulb with a human being, with myself. Who am I? I know the answer to this: I am a child of God. I was created from love and filled with love. My purpose is to share love. My purpose is to learn to share that love within me to the best of my ability and hopefully someday to share it in perfection.
I do not love in order to receive love in return. I do not love in order to make someone feel better or hope they realize someone cares about them; because to love in this way is to expect a result of the action of my loving and this makes my love conditional.
My job is simply to take my love out into the world and release it, to let it shine. I don’t need to concern myself with how it will be received, or if it will be received at all. My only mission is to disseminate it, to allow it to flow from me and circulate among my brothers and sisters.
This is not always an easy task. At times I will encounter “gnarly people” on my path who will be mean to me sometimes for no apparent reason and it will be very difficult for me to transcend my feelings of rejection, resentment, and hurt.
But nevertheless, that is the assignment I’ve been given. Gnarly people, damaged people, are also children of my heavenly Father.
Every person who has ever, or will ever, walk this planet has a history they carry with them. It is a history that has to a large degree made them the person they are today. Some have been loved too much, some not enough. Some have been cuddled and some have been abandoned; some mistreated, some abused, and some victimized almost to the point of no return.
When I look at another person for the very first time I have no way of knowing who she or he is. I can’t see what has come before. I cannot see the history.
As I begin to form a relationship with him (or her) I may come to understand him a little better; but I will only know that person to the extent that he is willing to reveal to me his history and to the extent that I am able to understand its effects.
That is one of the main reasons why I do not have the right to judge anyone. I don’t know the path they’ve been on and what has influenced them to become who they are. I cannot fully understand their actions because I have not experienced their journey. The only thing left for me to do is to love them because that is my job. I wasn’t put here to fix other people. I was put here to perfect myself and to share with my brothers and sisters the gift of the Father’s love.
So where does my responsibility to others come in? I am aware that I do not live in a vacuum and that my behavior will indeed affect the lives of others. Is it my calling to put aside the individual “me” for the collective “we?” Do I have the right to impose my truth on others and expect them to accept things as I see them? How can I be my brother’s keeper if I can’t adjust his thinking, if I can’t will him to be a better person?
The answer is this: I can love with intention. My intention can be one of examples. I can intend to show everyone I meet what love looks like and hope this will ignite a spark within them and that it will be enough to assist them in finding it within themselves and learn to implement it in their own lives in their own way. I cannot make them change, but I can show them what the goodness of growth looks like and I can hope that somehow they will find their way to it.
The act is ours, the consequences God’s. The Urantia Book UB 48:7.13
