Reflect today on the natural desire you have in your heart for love and respect for others

Do to others what you would like them to do. This is the law and the prophets. " Matthew 7:12

This familiar phrase was a command of God established in the Old Testament. It's a good rule of thumb to live with.

What would you like others to "do to you?" Think about it and try to be honest. If we are honest, we have to admit that we want others to do a lot for us. We want to be respected, treated with dignity, treated fairly, etc. But on an even deeper level, we want to be loved, understood, known and cared for.

Deep down, we should all try to recognize the natural desire that God has given us to share a loving relationship with others and to be loved by God. This desire is at the heart of what it means to be human. We as humans are made for that love. This passage of scripture above shows that we must be ready and willing to offer others what we want to receive. If we can recognize the natural desires of love in us, we should also strive to promote the desire to love. We must promote the desire to love in the same way that we seek it for ourselves.

This is more difficult than it seems. Our selfish tendency is to ask and expect love and mercy from others, while at the same time we hold ourselves to a much lower standard than we offer. The key is to focus our attention on our duty first. We must strive to see what we are called to do and how we are called to love. When we see this as our first duty and strive to live it, we will find that we find much greater satisfaction in giving than in trying to receive. We will discover that "doing on others", regardless of what they "do", is what we actually achieve.

Reflect today on the natural desire you have in your heart for love and respect for others. So, make this the focus of how you treat those around you.

Lord, help me do to others what I want them to do to me. Help me use the desire in my heart for love as a motivation for my love for others. In giving myself, help me find fulfillment and satisfaction in that gift. Jesus I believe in you.