What do you love?

There are some things I believe deeply in.

• The power of art to help people heal and be vulnerable

• Generosity

• Caring for those in need

• Helping children to feel safe, secure, and free

• Fighting oppression, poverty, and injustice everywhere

I believe in the above things. I believe they are extremely important and necessary.

However, none of them holds the central position in my life. What I want to be able to wholeheartedly say is that I am fully driven by God’s love. I want to be able to say that my life is characterized by love. It’s what fuels me. Nothing is as important as that.

I can’t always say that I remember that though. Sometimes what’s fueling my giving or serving or activism isn’t my love but rather my disgust of the oppressor or my empathy for the victims or even my fear of being in their place. I forget why I do what I do. I forget what gives me the ability to create art, write about oppression, feed the hungry, commune with the lonely, etc. I’ve often said that the revolution will come in love or it will not come at all.

The fact that I’ve been so loved by God has taught me so much about loving those around me. If it hadn’t been for the way that He loves me, knowing how to love would be impossible. If Christ hadn’t given so much to me, then it would be harder for me to know how to be generous. Seeing in God’s word how much He cares about the oppressed and the poor has taught me how important it is to stand for the protection and justice of my friends, family, and community at large.

Our work, really our very lives, should always be about wanting to love more.

We show our love by being with others, by giving to the poor, by caring for our neighbors, by visiting the lonely and the prisoner and the sick. Our pursuit of pure love will spill over into everything we do.

If you find that you have been allowing other things to become your first passion then come back to that center.

Live and love like Christ: wholeheartedly.

John 15:12

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.