Skip to footer

Enough love for all

Whether in school, at work, or in communities at large, exclusion of others can be all too common. But there is an alternative and even healing standpoint to the mistaken concept that love is a limited commodity.

  • By Tressie Armstrong

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

There are times in which one can feel like an outsider, left out of a circle of friends, co-workers, neighbors, or any situation where people gather to share experiences and just do things together.

This feeling of “left out” makes a sad assumption that there isn’t enough love to go around – that love is a limited commodity that can be used up or run out.

A big problem with feeling that love is limited is that we are likely to start doing things that can cause this to seem even more true, such as hoard friends, gossip, or lobby for others’ exclusive time or attention – all of which create greater division, hard feelings, and hurting hearts.

But there is an alternative. We can begin to think from the standpoint of God’s all-inclusiveness. If God is All – all good, all-powerful – and God is Love, as the Bible makes clear, there are absolute and infinite resources of Love for every individual. Everyone has an inherent ability to feel the inclusiveness of this divine Love. It’s our very nature to do so because we each are the spiritual sons and daughters of God, who has given each of us the endless capacity to love and feel loved.

All is all, and there is not a speck of space where one is not included in the infinite circle of divine Love’s care and inclusion. It’s simply not possible for Love to run out. Time and again I’ve found that when I realize more clearly that this is true, practical evidence of this Love – such as hope, comfort, and healing – comes into my life. Then it’s possible to think in terms of everyone being included in God’s love, and no one being excluded. Each of us can experience this!

There is infinite Love … more than enough for us all.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Enough love for all
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2019/0711/Enough-love-for-all
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe