Power of Love

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world shall know peace." Jimi Hendrix

The Prayer of St. Francis has been a favorite of mine for many, many years.  It says essentially the same thing as what Hendrix says above, with the famous opening lines, "Make me an instrument of Your peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love."  We each are either a power for love or we are in love with power.  It is our choice.  Which is it for you?  The love of power can take many forms.  Most often it shows up as someone trying to control or manipulate other people or situations.  I am not sure it is possible for an individual to know whether he or she is acting out of love or out of power unless one has identified, befriended and disempowered the ego.  Make no mistake:  we each do impact our worlds.  The only choice we have is how.  How do we impact our worlds?  The best way is to make it a conscious choice.  A conscious choice for how we want to treat other people.  Everyone has his or his own agency of control.  It has been a deliberate practice of mine for many years to never interfere with the free agency of other people.  That is why it was so hard for me to move Dwane into assisted living.  It was against my principles to take action that the other person did not initiate.  It seems to me that we who are caregivers must do that sometimes.  We must decide what is best for the other, and trust that God will help us make the very best decision.  A practice I have is to pray for discernment to know what is in the highest and best interest of everyone involved.  What helps you make decisions?