The Sun Shines. We Love.

By Marjorie Foerster Eddington

One of the most amazing qualities of the sun is that it shines. That may sound simple or even silly. But it’s actually quite profound. It shines. And in so doing, it provides light, heat, food—the essentials for life on this planet.

The sun shines on everyone. It doesn’t get tired of shining. It doesn’t get upset when clouds hide it from the Earth. Nor does the sun pick and choose on whom to shine. It’s very essence and nature is universal light-shine.

Jesus used the sun metaphorically to explain God’s love for us and to communicate how we should behave towards each other:

I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? (Matt 5:44-45 NLT)

As the sun’s nature is to shine, God’s nature is to love. And so, as God’s children, our nature is to love; our nature is to shine—to shine love on everyone.

But what about the bullies? Do we love them? What about the person who is really mean to us or to our friends or family? Or the person who gloats over yet another victory? Do we love them? What about the people who criticize, insult, condemn, or hurt us verbally or physically? Do we love them?

What would the sun do? Shine. What would God do? Love. So what do we do? We shine love. That’s what we do because that’s our divine nature. Anything else is contrary to our higher self.

Yes, sometimes it seems impossible to express love to someone who has just hurled hatred our way, stolen something of ours, or blamed us for something we didn’t do. But what would happen if we turn off our light, if we give up, if we simply stop loving? There is less light in our world, less warmth, less love. And so our world would get colder and darker. Not the best option.

The other option is to increase our love, make our light shine brighter, and so bring love into a world which desperately needs it. Jesus told us to love and pray for and bless those who treat us horribly. That doesn’t mean we have to become best buddies with them or even associate with them. But we do continue to love. I think there are two ways to go about this.

1. We bless the persons. From the very bottom of our hearts, we wish upon them peace, grace, kindness, compassion, love, whatever it is they need to stop acting the way they’re acting and to feel loved themselves. We see the person through the eyes of love, through the eyes of God.
2. Or, we focus simply on loving. We don’t necessarily think about the person. Rather, we just think about the nature of love, of God. And we focus on being love, on feeling God’s love, expressing God’s love, shining God’s love just as the sun shines—without a thought or care where it shines. That way, we don’t get caught up in judging, condemning, criticizing, picking and choosing whom to love. We just send out love to everyone, everywhere, every time.

Who are we to condemn in the first place? Those individuals who are acting bad may have a hard life, may feel worthless, left out, unworthy, may have a learning disability, may have been abused, or have challenges at multiple levels. When we shine the light of love, we can help give them hope and lift them up.

So let’s not be the ones to judge who gets love or not. The sun doesn’t. It just shines. God certainly doesn’t. Remember, Jesus told us that like the sun, God loves all alike. So let’s not make it more difficult by picking and choosing whom to love. Let’s make life easier by loving. With each and every response we have to every person and situation, let’s make it love. We may never see the result of our love. Yet often we will. And the world will be a lighter, brighter warmer place to live.