"If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him in what is happening around us and inside us. If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in." (F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 53)
When I think of something be framed, I immediately go to a picture. Old photographs capture a moment, and later on can be brought out of box or looked at in an album to catch a glimpse, to remind us of what was. They can stir within us memories of how we may have felt, but they don't tell us how we felt. They may also bring forth from us reactions that we do not expect, a tear, a smile.
Love being the framework in which to work out my relationships is important I believe. We are invited throughout scripture to love God. That is the frame in which we work. It sets some boundaries to do that searching so that we don't wander all over the place trying to cover too much ground. That is not to say that we may need to move to a new frame in our continued seeking. There are of course moments when we hear, see and sense in other ways God's presence. All again framed for the moment. Perhaps to be remembered at a later time.
The same is true for loving neighbor. The frame in which I work out that relationship, or contemplate actions that will affect others has to put a face with it. I need to imagine the who, what and where's before moving forward. Sometimes the faces are very clear and have names, other times they share only a common humanity.
What is the framework in which you live? How do you capture moments that inform who you are?
Blessings,
Ed
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