Loving, Building, and Being

Loving my world. 

What we’re building. 

Being two people. 

As I looked over my journals from years ago, I remember the struggle. I remember wrestling with the idea of how to love my neighbors and my world. I was taking a step back to look at my greater purpose of why I’m here and what I’m doing about it. 

My efforts and actions may have little impact on THE world, but they profoundly affect MY world. Each day, I need this reminder. “I can’t change the world, but I can change my world.” I wrote those words in my journal years ago. They are just as true today. The people in my life are my neighbors, and to love them, I must focus on my relationship with God, my daily transformation and renewal, and my service to those I encounter each day.  

In Rick Weinheimer’s book, Move Your Chair: A Guide to Every Day Excellence, he tells this modern-day fable. A man comes across two construction workers. He asks the first man what he’s doing. He answers, “Can’t you see? I’m laying bricks.” Then he asks the second man, who answers, “Can’t you see? I’m building a cathedral!” The difference in mindset is clear. It’s about purpose and attitude. This is how we thrive; we do meaningful work. 

In my spiritual life, I am being two people: a man of action and a man of contemplation. There is important work I need to do, but there is important work that needs to be done in my life. My actions are doing-ness of life, loving and serving others. My contemplation is the being-ness of life, being silent and being in prayer.  

We become better at each by doing the other. When we reflect on our actions and act on our reflections, we show this world a people of action and contemplation. Love is a mindset, a state of being, and a state of doing. This is how we build the cathedrals of our lives, acting on love and meditating on love. This is how we find purpose and the right attitude that allows us to thrive and do meaningful work: to love God, to love our neighbors, and to love our world.