Can I Just Walk With You

[Guest Post by Jaya Sumanth]

One of the things that gives human life value, is being loved.

When that is absent, lacking or removed, the question of a  value will arise.

When people are hurt or angry it is generally because they feel unwanted, devalued, or unloved.

That is why society hinges on one major concept and divine ordinance which is this; to love your neighbor as yourself.

What does that look like? What does that feel like? Is it humanly possible? It is human nature to walk away from the table when things get hard; when it gets hard to love your spouse, your siblings, your parents…or your neighbor. It is human nature to look at another human being’s shortcomings, or differences in opinion, dress, speech, or culture, and to become judge and jury of their value.

But in reaching beyond human nature we begin to understand the nature of the divine, when we slip off our shoes and step into another’s. And when we ask the questions “What would make your life better, or at least…bearable?” When we slip back into our own shoes and our own lives, we can further ask “Can I just…walk with you for a little way?

We don’t look alike, our experiences so vastly different that we won’t share the same opinions, cares or concerns, but how can I love you, if I don’t even know you? How can I fulfill my one and only mission in this life, which is to love, if you are all the way over there and I am all the way over here. “Can I just walk with you, for a little ways?”