Sunday, May 13, 2012

Laying On of Hands is What Love Demands

Compassion is not feeling for sisters and brothers;
It is sharing in the passions of others.
We must be mindful of with whom we bond;
There are pieces of us that will forever be gone.

The trade-off is a piece of our fellow humans,
With whom the pieces of us will blend.
Do we ask ourselves when choosing soul mates
What kind of blend will we, together, create?

Even my friends with the greatest faith
Need to be loved by the human race.
We hear much of the laying on of hands;
Human touch is what love demands.

Will loving The Lord take away all pain
And make my world all smiles again?
Or are the people who reach out to me
In whom the face of salvation I'll see?

We cannot be fully human by ourselves;
It is in mutual need that The Spirit indwells.
But the fear of our own vulnerability
Causes us to attempt to live love free.

A heart closed to love will still be filled
By fear and anger, into hatred, distilled.
All our energy will go into protection,
Rather than face our fear of rejection.

It sometimes seems easier to live alone,
But we'll never have a sense of home
Without taking the risks of letting others in.
Vulnerability is where compassion begins.