This morning, as I sat getting ready to write this article, I was listening to an oldies station. They began playing some John Lennon, and one of the lines in his song was “Love is Learned.”
And I began to think about how absolutely correct he was.
As humans, as we grow, we learn everything from those who are before us. Things like love, fear, prejudice, hate, responsibility, respect, and kindness are all learned. From the cradle to the grave, as it were, we learned this thing in our homes, in school, in relationships – even in the kind of work we do. And these learned words will either cage us or set us free.
All this boils down to our own self-concept, that term that means “who we are”.
And when we practice what we learned, we can only do what we learned. So, who are you? Do you see yourself as loving, responsible, and kind to everyone you meet? Or do you sit in the shadows of sorrows?
You can change what you learned if it is pulling you down into shadows. You can try to do that with a myriad of self-help books you can find on the Internet or at Barnes & Noble. Usually, that will work for a while. Or you can surround yourself with people who feel the same as you do, believe the same as you, learn the same as you. A place where people practice kindness, help you up when you fall, and where love is the key thing to learn.
If you are reading this today, I don’t know if you go to church or not, if you believe or not, or what condition your self-esteem is in. But let me tell you this, going to a church of your choice, being with people who learned like you did and getting acquainted with God, the ultimate creator, teacher and embodiment of love can truly make that difference in your life you have been looking for.
Perry Bell is pastor of Destination Interdenominational Church, which meets at 10 a.m., Sundays at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center, 203 S. Harrison Ave.