As the world continues to reverberate with conflict and thousands continue to lose their lives in senseless circumstance and turmoil, be it the tragic train accident in India, the ongoing effort of Christians in the Central African Republic to exterminate their fellow Muslims, the bitter antagonism that is rocking the Ukraine, or the current disagreement between China and its neighbors over sovereignty in certain parts of the Pacific, we may wonder why "we can't all get along."  We live our days looking out for ourselves, plan our lives thinking mostly of our success, deal with our neighbors from our standpoint only, and we fear what we cannot control:  others.
     Not that we should not live circumspectly and wisely (consider the thoughts of Micah 6 in the Hebrew Bible), not that we should not live attuned to our circumstances (think about Jesus' words in Luke 17), and not that we should not think of ourselves (I refer you to the beginning of Philippians 2).  We should not, however, allow our personal dogmas to override every other consideration, particularly those that involve our fellow human beings.  We will never agree with everyone on everything, nor should we ever expect to.  God made us all differently; he does not expect us to walk through the world in exactly the same way.  But God does expect us to love each other.
     Love can be complicated and, taken in its fullest, raises a host of ethical problems and moral challenges, yet love is at the same time exceedingly simple.  As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, "Love seeks not its own."  Indeed:  in no way is any one of us the absolute fullness of creation.
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