Hate wants to kill you. Hate is sneaking in through the door of anger the you have let swing open in your heart. Blame welcomes the hate in. Then, hate destroys you.
Hate wants to tear apart the world. Infuriation planted strategically by superiors invites hate to widen the creek of uncertainty into a river of humanity’s blood. We choose a side based on our preferences and begin the war by forgetting ourselves. Our allowance of hate brings us to forget our love for our neighbors. We thirst desperately for someone to blame. When hate points its ugly finger, we don’t question. We obey.
At first, the hate doesn’t seem to control us. We justify it by self righteousness. We push it to the side. But hate multiplies within us until we can no longer contain it. It controls our lives and turns us into a people we are not. Hate drives a wedge between our mind and our heart, as we blindly ignore the reality of the selfish decisions our hearts keep making.
The war rages inside of ourselves. Our individual wars spill over, and we war with each other. We blame each other. We forget ourselves. But it’s okay, we say. It’s justified anger.
Hate becomes our master, and the moment we realize we are no longer in control, we want out. The deal we made with hate now seems remarkably naïve. But hate won’t let us break the deal without a consequence. We dig deep, searching for our old selves, but we come up empty.
When we’re all on our faces in the dirt, begging for a glimpse of a world before hate, a drop of rain falls into our hearts. The first drop strikes a chord within us. We search our hearts for the word from which the drop came. We cry out in pain, wanting that word back with everything in us. What is it? What is it?
Another drop falls, and this time, the chord strikes louder. Love. Love is the word. The answer. The gift of a Savior.
The flood of sound comes rushing back into our hearts as we realize our hate. We try to remove the hate on our own, but it is printed across our hearts in permanent ink. The dark ink begins to grow and engulf our lungs in guilt.
“Oh, God forgive me!”We cry.
“Take my heart, take my hate. Give me love! ”
A different kind of flood begins to engulf us. It is light, like air and sun. It washes us, cleanses us from the scars of hate and allows our minds to be clear once again. The feeling is overwhelming, yet peaceful. Love is quiet.
We look up, and realize the others around us have felt what we feel. We look across the great river dividing us from the ones we used to blame for our own sins and shortcomings. They look back us with a mutual understanding.
The tears of light and love come to our eyes. We run towards each other, forgetting the river. We set our eyes on Love, and we don’t look back. The river pulls us, but when we reach each other, it dissolves.
“Love.” We exclaim to ourselves in quiet wonder.
Loves heals. Hate divides. It’s that simple.
life on pointe 