This month we explore the theme, love, and I will be preaching on love as charity and love as patriotism. Congregational life provides an abundance of opportunities to think about, practice, and embody love. I have committed my life to growing my capacity to love.

This capacity includes giving and receiving love. This commitment imbues my life with meaning and purpose and helps me thrive in the face of adversity and challenge. Even though I have made this commitment, in my daily life, with my family and at work, I often discover limitations and find myself struggling to give and receive love.  When I encounter these limitations, I try to accept them and embrace them as an opportunity to love myself, with all my shortcomings.

Lately, I have found encouragement in the wisdom of psychologist Carl Rogers, who wrote, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”