Love your neighbor as yourself. If you do not love yourself, how can you love others? We are all God’s children. He loves all of us. Why should we deny ourselves the love that God gives us? Once we accept God’s love for us, we need to share it with others. Some people love themselves so much that they don’t freely share the love with those around them. They might share it with friends and family, but they will not show an ounce of love to a stranger.

Everybody is a part of God’s one body. We all have our own functions and skills. We need each other’s skills in order to work together for the kingdom of God. The eyes do not pump blood. The hands do not inhale oxygen. The ears do not digest food. Each part of a single person has a specific function and they are all needed for the body to be well. We are all His body. Just as a single person has a heart, lungs, brain, and so on the body of Christ has men, women, children, young, old, married, single, consecrated religious, and so on. Just as each person needs all of its parts to work in unison, the body of Christ needs all of its parts to work in unison to build the kingdom of God.

We do not know others lives. We do not know what they are dealing with. If someone has a hard time walking and uses a cane, why would we expect them to be able to go for a run or a hike in the woods? We need to not judge others actions or words based on our experiences because they did not have the same experiences even if they were at the same event. All of our experiences are formed by our past. Someone who lost their mother may not want to celebrate Mother’s Day because it is too sad for them especially if it was a recent passing.

A car has many parts with different functions. When building a house, there can be masons, electricians, plumbers, wood workers, and others, each with their own specialty but all necessary to build the house. We all have our specialties that are necessary for building the kingdom of God. We need to do our part of building the kingdom of God. We cannot do other’s parts and they cannot do our part. We need to focus on our part and let other’s focus on their part.