If we follow what Jesus taught and modeled, we are invited into your love's larger story, a story that Jesus always inclusively expanded the scope of.
But we don't always give your story our undivided attention. We live in the midst of other powerful stories which have entirely different priorities than yours; stories which tell us to see everyone else as competitors to be bested by any means necessary, that tell us to look out for number one, that tell us that the way to become great is to acquire and wield power, wealth, influence, and control.
When we live pursuit of those aims we can end up being "of the world, but not in it." When we follow those skewed values, we often withdraw from others and miss the work of renewal and restoration that you've tasked with living out in your world.
Forgive us. Helps us to keep your love's story as our primary guide. Give us awareness when we've tuned it out in favor of contradictory narratives, even unintentionally. Help us to grow from "life being all about us" towards "us being all about life."
