Mar 18 - "One Thing"

"So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being." --- Deuteronomy 10: 12-22
*******************************

We are busy people. It seems nowadays that whenever I talk to someone at work, friends, family...everyone is trying to balance the multitude of things brought into our lives, by choice or by circumstance, focusing on more than a few things at any given time. In consideration of our busy-ness, can you imagine what it would be like to only have to focus on one thing and one thing only?

In today's scripture, Moses is speaking to the the people of Israel, near the end of his life, after they have been wandering around in the desert for forty years. He is taking an opportunity to review with the Israelites, all of the things which have happened, all of the miracles they have seen as a part of their freedom from slavery and being led out of Egypt. Since Moses realizes that he is soon to leave this world and not enter into the Promised Land with his people, he sees it as important to make sure the Israelites are mindful especially of the commandments giving by God to Moses, which he then passed along to his people.

Moses here focuses in on the greatest commandment: I'll summarize it in the way Jesus did, which is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37). It's all about love; nothing else.

Now, does Moses and eventually Jesus, intend to communicate that as long as we have that warm and fuzzy feeling for God, all will be fine and we won't have to worry about anything else? Not exactly. Remember that love is a choice; it is an active, not a passive approach. When we say we are making a decision to love a person in spite of their faults, to forgive this person and continue to love even when he or she hurts us and does not appear to be loving us back, this is the type of active love Moses and Jesus are compelling us to deliver. It is also important to note that Moses does not say we should love God because He demands it or needs it; he says we should do it for our own well-being.

If we are only then supposed to be focused on this one thing, how does that translate to the rest of our lives and the myriad decisions we have to make on a daily basis? How does simply loving God with all our hearts, souls and minds keep us on task at work so we can be employed and pay the bills, or transport the kids to their activities or make for a great relationship with our spouse? I think we simply have to ask ourselves the question in any situation, does our choice, our action, show love for God? By being honest and working hard in our jobs, do we show love to God by putting to good use the gifts He has given to us? Yes. By supporting our children, do we show love to God by encouraging them and the use of their gifts in a positive way? Yes. By opening our hearts to our spouses, loving them deeply and truly, do we show love to God by loving another? Yes.

Am I over simplifying things? Yes. But sometimes simple feels good.

So, dear friends, focus your efforts on the one thing which delivers all good things to you. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Rest assured that by loving God with our actions and our choices, we are nurturing our own well-being and, by the way, doesn't it feel good?!?