I was reading the news and ran across this…“And to Penn Jillette, it’s clear that Joe Biden now has “one job.” The 70 million-plus people who voted for Trump “are our neighbors and our relatives.” Biden must “fill all our hearts with love for each other” so we can “understand and move on together,”.

Really? That is the one job of the President of the United States of America? I think not. That’s not his job. He has many things to get done. But to expect that he fill our hearts with love for each other…well, that is impossible. He will certainly fail.

The only one to fill my heart with love is me. The only one to fill your heart with love is you. The responsibility for a heart filled with love lies squarely in each individual. No one outside of me can do that for me. Certainly leaders can inspire us by their words and actions in the direction of love or in the direction of fear. But NO ONE can fill our hearts with love. We each must take responsibility for that.

So my advice is simple…don’t wait for Joe Biden, or anyone else, to fill your heart with love. Really, don’t wait another minute to release any fear you have, any judgment or anxiety, and replace it with love. Don’t wait another minute to practice loving your ‘enemies’…and listening to them and finding common ground with them. Don’t wait. Plant some love in your heart right now.

This love I’m talking about shows up as kindness, compassion, respect, understanding and humility. Do you think this is wimpy kind of stuff? Well, just try it for a while. It will be one of the hardest things you will ever do! You’ve got to have courage to love in this way…to love those who would persecute you, bully you, call you names, talk down to you, tell you that you don’t matter. Your job is to put a little love in your own heart.

Kent M. Keith, in his book Anyway, The Paradoxical Commandments, puts it this way: “People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.”

Indeed.
Paula