The greatest commandments

Dear LORD,
This morning, after sharing our usual time in love and conversation, David asked me to curl up next to him in bed while he fell asleep. As I did so, I remembered the two greatest commandments taught by my Lord Jesus, and once again I thought how perfect Your teachings are.

MARK CHAPTER 12
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: `Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
30 `And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 “And the second, like it, is this: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
33 “And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question Him.

Of course, I know that when the Lord Jesus talks about loving one’s neighbor as oneself, He is certainly not talking about us being selfish and egocentric, thinking only of ourselves, something that, unfortunately, we see way too often in this world. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus talks about loving one’s neighbor as oneself by giving oneself to the people in our lives, by giving them our time and service. This is another thing that is so scarce! I know, Lord God, how we humans have crafted this world to be super busy, to be super filled with things for us to do, therefore sacrificing time with our family and friends. The saddest part is, these worldly things to which we attach so much importance, the frenzy, the business, all the time we dedicate to meetings and projects and work and things, ultimately, are meaningless. I suppose this is part of the result of our fall in the Garden, when we sinned and became imperfect, flawed, wicked. We have our priorities backwards. Because of this, now we all suffer from loneliness, from being neglected by family and friends. Nobody has time for anybody, our lives are consumed by work and the cares of the world. No wonder You, oh LORD, had to command us to make time for one another, to take care of each other. After all, as I meditated curled up next to David, holding him and feeling him falling asleep, I thought to myself: “What could be better than this?” What can be better than spending time with our loved one, our brother, a true friend? Because, someday, that person may no longer be with us, then that will be the day of regret, of wishing we had spent more time with that person. Dear LORD, I for one, do not wish for this to happen to me. By Your mercy, grant me the time and energy to spend with my loved ones, to do what is truly important in the world, to follow Your second greatest commandment, Amen.
Your servant,
Zoraida

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