Love thy neighbour

This is perhaps the best time in the garden; everything seems to be in full bloom. There are French geraniums, clematis, love-in-the-mist, mock orange and of course a whole variety of roses. Looking at the rose bushes in particular, it is interesting though that although they are of the same family –Rosa - nevertheless each bush is different; some are small patio roses whilst others are vigorous climbers and others still are standard roses. Thus whilst the Mamma Mia rose, which our daughter gave us, will only produce golden flowers the Queen Elizabeth rose will only produce soft pink flowers. In fact even on the same bush where you might expect the flowers to be exactly the same each flower is designed and created slightly differently. Nevertheless together they display the glory of God’s creation.
It is the same with us. Although we are all human beings, nevertheless we are all different – even those who may be twins. Like the roses although of the same family we each have our own personality and traits which will be quite different to those of the chap next door. Yet the fact remains we are of the same family – homo sapiens -  and as Christians we are called to love our neighbour whatever size, shape, colour, or ethnicity he or she may be; indeed whether we like him or not! We are, after all, all children created by God in His likeness. And as Christians we have a particular responsibility to show God to the world in the way that we live our lives which must be, as St Paul says:  ‘and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31)’. Just as the roses exhibit the glory of God so must we in our lives and actions.
Here is a quotation from a book that I was given on my confirmation some sixty or more years ago which I thinks sums the matter up concisely:  “Do not waste time bothering about whether you ‘love your neighbour’; act as if you did” C S Lewis. Mere Christianity