Philip Yancey wrote that 'the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference'.
Like most things that he writes, that quotation is both insightful and inspiring. And if understood properly, should make a lot of us feel uncomfortable too.
I don't need to explain to anyone reading this that our world is hurting and there are so many in such dire need of help. Of love.
And yet I find it so very easy to be indifferent. So very convenient.
To leave it to someone else.
To argue 'Yes, I'd like to but I have to go and...'
To look the other way, turn the music up on my iPod and pretend I didn't see.
To say I'm tired.
To find any number of hundreds of other excuses.
And I find myself constantly bemoaning the state of the world whilst remaining completely indifferent to it.
And this means I need to change and make some brutal changes in my life in order to change the things in this world that I don't like. Changes that mean more than just stopping in the street to sign a petition for Amnesty International or to buy a copy of the Big Issue. Changes that put the onus on me to roll my sleeves up, get involved, forget about myself and what I might want.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about stepping away from indifference and choosing the opposite.
love.
I'll let you know how I get on.
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2 comments:
This is a great post! Thanks for sharing. Yancey is a great author. I'm currently reading his latest book on "Prayer." Another very thought provoking book.
I know what you mean about talking about change, complaining that there is no change, yet not caring enough to do anything about it.
Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
I think there's so much truth to that!
AJ~
Thanks for your comments and encouragements AJ, good to have someone else here to contribute to the blog!
I think the Ghandi quote you mentioned is indeed full of truth. And provides a further uncomfortable moment where we realise if we don't take action and remain indifferent, do we even really want change to come at all?
I guess most of the time my life is a distorted version of Ghandi's quote where I like to 'be the change I want to see in the world...but on my own terms and without too much sacrifice or discomfort'.
When I put those conditions on it, no change can ever occur. Change by it's nature requires something to be given up and altered to allow something new to be born.
Anyway, hope you are enjoying "Prayer". I think it may well become one of those 'classics' that is not only essential but so good it is worth revisiting again and again!
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