DO YOU REALLY LOVE ME?

We’ve all heard the story about the man, call him Jim, who fell off a cliff, but on the way down grabbed onto a limb of a tree where he hung on for dear life. His cried for help landed on deaf ears. So began to pray in earnest for God to somehow save him. He was startled to hear a voice call out his name. When he asked who it was, the voice replied that it was God.

When God asked Jim if he really loved him, Jim replied that he most certainly did. When the voice asked Jim if he believed in him, Jim said that, yes, he most certainly did. When the voice asked Jim if he would do anything the voice, God, asked him to do, Jim said that he would? Then God said, “Let go!”

We smile, of course. Cute story. But it is also a true story, only the name and the circumstances change. For in the true story I am Jim. Each one of us is Jim. There are times in the lives of each one of us when God asks us to let go, to do what we don’t want to do, to do what we are afraid to do for whatever reason we are afraid, to trust totally in God and not in ourselves.

The saving grace in all this is twofold. First, whenever we find ourselves in such a position where we have to trust totally in God, God will give us whatever grace and strength we need to accomplish what is being asked of us. Second, those requests are few and far between. In fact, we may go through life without ever finding ourselves in such a position, thankfully.

Sometimes the big acts of love, like acts of heroism, are performed by people with little or no faith. Someone needs help; we are there; we can help, and we do even if the situation is dangerous, even life-threatening. Our faith in God, however, is not measured in great acts of faith or great acts of love, which, again, are rare. Rather our faith is God is measured in the little things in life, the little acts of kindness and love.

The poet Rod McKuen once wrote: “It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love but that you love. For in the end the act of loving anyone is the act of loving God.” It seems to me that until we equate every thought or word or deed as an act of loving God, then there will be little change or growth in our own lives, in the world as a whole or let alone our own little corner of the world. It will remain as it is: in need of so much love when so little is being offered.

For when we say “no” to someone else, to another’s need for our help or our love, we are saying “no” to God and our profession of faith in God. Would you or I let go of that limb were God to ask us? Of course we would, we say. But the truth is, we actually answer that question whenever someone reaches out his or her hand for our help, our love. Do we reach out and grab hold or do we not?