“Love one another. ”

We hear it a lot, people who hang around church.

• We hear it from people who stand in front of the church and preach.
• We hear it from people who we disagree with as they try to make us give in.
• We hear it from people who avoid hanging around church because of all the love that they don’t see: “I thought you were supposed to be loving. All I see is arguments. All I hear is criticism.”

Today that passage has been resonating for me, though  I didn’t realize it. All I knew was that as I moved through the day, I needed people.

I needed to ask for help to understand a story. I needed to hear words of encouragement. I needed to offer some glimpses of understanding. I needed to accept thanks. I needed to learn about crises for some people. I needed to ask God to help them. I needed to think about other people. I needed to see my own needs.

I recently read that you cannot be a follower of Christ by yourself. It is a group project. My interactions today reminded me that even introverts like me need to love and be loved by one anothers.

Last week I was aware of a conflict. The two people reached resolution before the day was over, but sometimes tension can linger. Today I watched one party to the conflict tear up in response to a caring act of the other party. “I wanted to go find her and give her a big old hug.”

Neither of them are big old hug people.

That’s love.

It’s also proof.

When Jesus said, “love one another,” he gave the why.

“By this everyone will know that you are following me, if you love each other.”