Helen Tyte

Love and Wolves…

When I read this week’s Bible passage (Ephesians 4:25-5:2) the part that stood out the most was where we are told to be ‘imitators of God’ and that we should ‘live in love.’

Across the world we have not seen much love shared between people this week:

• Settler violence in the West Bank.
• An attempted attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Australia.
• Riots in the UK, with 600 arrested for violent disorder, and people using social media to spread false information in order to incite violence.
• Continued fighting in Russia and the Ukraine.
• Uncertainty for the leadership campaign in the US.

Humanity as a whole is definitely not living in love.

However it’s not all bad. After our church service last Sunday I read an appeal on Facebook for emergency accommodation for a mum and her 9 year old daughter. They had spent the night before sleeping in the waiting room at the local hospital, after the little girl’s grandmother suffered severe head injuries in a fall on a cruise ship as they neared the port in Bermuda. After settling them into a spare room in our house we received an outpouring of love for these strangers to our shores. People offered their spare rooms, lifts across the island, meals, and even tickets for free entry to the aquarium. Our St. Mark’s Church family were imitators of God, happy to share what they had and showing love. It reminded me of this story:

An old man explained to his grandson “Within all of us there is a battle of two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person, too,” counselled the grandfather. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

This week, I pray that we will all be imitators of God, that we will live in love, and that the wolf we feed is the good wolf.