It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our Creator–our very
self-consciousness–is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures. —Annie Dillard—
Getting outside of ourselves, moving beyond our own egos, opens the door to real communication with the
people we’ll meet today. We have to learn to look with loving appreciation into the soul of that person or
child who stands before us. We have to practice being concerned with their needs before our own, and in
time our concern will be genuine. The separation between us will exist no more.
This division from others, the barrier that keeps us apart, comes from our individual insecurities. We have grown accustomed to the quick comparisons of ourselves with those we meet. Either inferior or superior we determine them to be, and thus ourselves. Whatever gifts we have to offer each other are left unwrapped, at least for now.
Let’s come together, truly together, with someone we’ve been holding off until now. We can trust that the people who have come into our lives are there by design. We are equal to them, and they to us. We need what they have to offer us, and their growth needs our gifts, too.
I will appreciate the design of my life today. I will draw myself close to the day.