the way we love Him

St Augustine gives us wisdom today in A Year with the Church Fathers.

He tells us many things, including how we need to realize we're fallen creatures in order to love God correctly. But the thing that really jumped out at me was what he said about other people.

He said that we must be careful not to be separated from the love of other people. And he's right, because Jesus made it clear that the way we love God is by loving other people. "What you do for the least of these my brethren, you do for me"... or, as I heard it phrased earlier this week "The way you treat my little brother is how you treat Me." I love that.

Now, there are times that we DO need to put some distance between ourselves and others. There are toxic relationships in some of our lives, and the most loving thing we can do for ourselves and for them is to give it some space. If someone is constantly hurting or abusing you, you need to get away from them.

But. Most of the time we need to be reaching out. We need to overcome the problems that so easily arise in our relationships, and love them. By loving them, we are loving Him.

God, please pour Your love into our hearts, so they overflow with love for Your little brothers.