In my last post, I mentioned that I was going on a Christian spiritual retreat for several days that I knew nothing about; no one would tell me anything about what was going to happen or what I was going to experience.

I’m back. And I will never be the same.

I thought I knew the meaning of unconditional love. I was wrong. Really wrong. I have never, ever experienced the kind of love I received on this retreat. It came from those I knew but most of it came from people I did not know and more than likely will never meet. It was humbling, overwhelming and it has changed my life forever.

Christians get a really bad rap in this world and I must say, a lot of it is deserved. We hear about the scandals, the hypocrisy and the intolerance. That is what makes news and quite frankly, our society enjoys talking about the bad more than the good.

But there are Christians who get it, Christians who understand that our number one role is to love others unconditionally. I was surrounded by these people this weekend. The Christian life is much like many other aspects of life: an ongoing journey to become the best we can. And along the way, we screw up – badly. That was one of my revelations this weekend. I have lived a selfish instead of a selfless life.

There is an elderly woman two houses away who lost her husband three years ago. I have the best intentions to visit her but “something” always comes up. It’s raining, I’m tired, I have emails to answer. I know – pathetic isn’t it?

I do some for the homeless, but not enough. One of our leaders this weekend told us about something her Sunday School class does. Once a month, they get sturdy plastic zip-up bags and fill them with socks, underwear, toiletries, candy, restaurant gift-certificates and other helpful items. Each person in her class makes 12 for themselves each month and they hand them out to the homeless they see. Great idea. I will make up a dozen or more this weekend.

Those are important, but there is one area in which I have especially failed: my daily interactions with people. Not letting a driver get in front of me on the highway because I have to be first, being more eager to speak than to listen, worrying about receiving credit, crowding my calendar with business appointments which leaves no room for interaction with friends, speaking negatively about people instead of praying for them, taking my family and friends for granted instead of doing loving, unexpected, self-sacrificial things for them more often.

Don’t misunderstand, I did not come away from this weekend feeling like a worm of failure, compelled to perform daily self-flagellation. Rather, I came from this weekend so overwhelmed by experiencing unconditional love that more than anything, I want to give that love to others. Jesus Christ is not in churches, he lives through the selfless actions we take on behalf of others. And I will do my best to be a his healing mouth, hands and feet.

I know that some of you are angry that I would write about Jesus in my business blog; I understand. Because this weekend has profoundly stirred my soul, I simply had to write about it. Thank you again for allowing some self-indulgent, cathartic writing. Rest assured that in addition to personal lessons, I learned business lessons as well. I will be posting those, sometimes with a spiritual feel and sometimes not.

Do you have other ideas for how we can extend the hand of love to those who need it most?

De Colores!

Photos courtesy of dmills727.

Tagged as: Christian, forever changed, Jesus, spiritual, unconditional love