Loving God Now ... to hell with "then"!

"I get up and meditate, pray, offer thanks for this day and try to help others," the Dalai Lama explained. "Will it do you any good?" the searcher asked. The Dalai Lama shrugged his shoulders. "We won't know until I die." That's a pretty good answer. I think it's half-right. There's a lot we won't know for sure about God, our religion, beliefs and whether eating a Chick-Fill-A yesterday did anything other reinforce capitalism until we die. Say what you want ... profess what you believe ... but the fact of matter is your won't really know until you die. The great religions of the world teach that you express love for God by loving others. "Beloved, if God so loved us we should love one another" (Christian) ... "You cannot love God until you completely love another person" (Buddhist) ... "The world shall be saved one neighbor at a time" (Judaism) ... and so on. There's no question that loving someone now makes a difference ... NOW! A cup of cold water for the thirsty, shelter for the homeless, sitting with the dying are all basic expressions of love. So is coaching a kids baseball team trying to teach the self-worth and the rules of the game of life. As is making just yourself available because someone asks when you'd really rather be doing something else. Each of these things makes a difference in someone's life NOW ... and you know it does ... way before you die. I suppose the trick is how many people can you love at one time? There are other ways too, I think. The last several nights we've taken the girls to watch turtles hatching on the Beach. A crowd gathers around a small group of volunteers so awed by nature and the beauty of life they do everything possible to help the turtles make it to the ocean ... where they still have just a small chance of survival. This loving attention certainly means a lot to those turtles who do and will return to Tybee Island several years of now to lay their own eggs. Each of these are expression of one's love of God. Each make a difference now! The validity of others won't be known until we die and God rewards us ... or not. I cast my lot with the difference makers now. I've never really been sure about then. As a matter of fact, to hell with "then".