Monday, February 27, 2023

EMULATE OR OPPOSITE

 

A Heavenly Father's Forgiveness, Rembrandt**

I fortunately learned early in life that there are two basic ways to learn from other people.  We can emulate the things we observe that we like and simply do the opposite of those things we do not like.  We never lose if we don’t lose the lesson life is teaching us.  

Meredith Marple has listed some of the behaviors that can teach us how to do the opposite thing by listening to the wisdom life is revealing:

·         People will teach you how to love by not loving you back.

·         People will teach you how to forgive by not apologizing.

·         People will teach you kindness by their judgement.

·         People will teach you how to grow by remaining stagnant.

We can also simply emulate those behaviors that we instinctively know to be eternal truths:

·         People will teach you to love by even loving the unlovable.

·         People will teach you to forgive by even forgiving those who have wronged them.

·         People will teach you kindness by helping those who cannot return the compassion in kind.

·         People will teach you how to grow by exhibiting their passion and curiosity for learning.

 Of course, there are many other sources of learning how to live our best life such as reading about the lessons learned from a wide variety of people.  We can never gain an ultimate number of experiences in one lifetime without tapping into the wisdom that others have accrued.  Some religions profess that Jesus was a great prophet while others maintain he was the Son of God and part of the holy Trinity.  When challenged in Matthew 22:34-40 about which of the over 600 commandments that men had documented at the time were the greatest, he wisely distilled them to simply “love God and love others”.  It’s our job to love and God’s job to judge.  If we strive to do that and stay in our lane, the rest of life will take care of itself.

**And did you notice Rembrandt painted both a mother's and a father's hand symbolizing both loves expressed by God for his creation?

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