Where is love; where love is

"So often when we say 'I love you' we say it with a huge 'I' and a small 'you.'  We use love as a conjunction instead of it being a verb implying action.  It's no good just gazing out into open space hoping to see the Lord; instead we have to look closely at our neighbor, someone whom God has willed into existence, someone whom God has died for.

Everyone we meet has a right to exist, because he has value in himself, and we are not used to this.  The acceptance of otherness is a danger to us, it threatens us.  To recognize the other's right to be himself might mean recognizing his right to kill me.  But if we set a limit to his right to exist, it's no right at all... If we turn to God and come face to face with Him, we must be prepared to pay the cost.  If we are not prepared to pay the cost, we must walk through life being a beggar, hoping someone else will pay.  But if we turn to God we discover that life is deep, vast, and immensely worth living."

--Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, in Beginning to Pray