Honouring the Ground They Walk On

There is the antiquity of life in each of our relationships; a phenomenon we may see when, from an eternal mindset, we are convinced that we may honour the very ground they walk on. Jesus’ words follow:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”

~John 13:34a (NRSV)

These are profound words. When it comes to living in the company of other people we have the opportunity to love them.

Particularly as it relates with our families, children, and grandchildren, but also with others, everywhere, we are commended by God to honour the ground the other person walks on.

And as that honour rises, as if by evaporation from their feet planted on the earth and rising through their bodies, it converts into a sense of holy respect for:

1.      Who they are;

2.      What we know about them;

3.      What they have been through; and, very importantly,

4.      What we do not and cannot know about them.

Created Mysteries

The amazing thing about human beings, you and I, is the mystery about us. Even to ourselves we are enigmas. How much more enigmatic are others, even those we know intimately and love, with deep wishes for tomorrow—for life like this to never end.

How can life be sufficiently explained? And further, in such a relational maze, how is life to make any sense at all if not for God? We are mysteries, in a mysterious world, and no untying will uncover the perplexity.

The only way we work, as a human legion, is if we work together, interdependently. Such inter-reliance necessitates love. Love has to fuel that process.

Created For Interdependence

The very fact that we are in relationship and in partnership with other people—that we are all working for similar goals—makes us more incomprehensibly interdependent than we ordinarily realise. If we don’t learn to honour the ground they walk on, by uttering through our behaviour an uncommon respect, our worlds (and theirs) will be thwarted.

We were created to work in an interdependent way—to rely upon each other, to work with each other, to achieve with and through each other. We were not created as islands. We were created as cities, teeming with activity, all of which is energised in love.

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The command to love one another is not just a good idea. To love one another, and to work together, is the mandate for life. This is no better achieved than by honouring the ground they walk on; to value each and every human being as if ourselves.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.