Yesterday, I was invited to a womens' study group. A good friend (and excellent hair stylist), is co-leading the group through Joyce Meyer's new book, The Love Revolution. I took copious amounts of notes, and enjoyed every love filled moment. And I was a little frustrated at the same time. For two years I've been using the dakbands to encourage people to reach out and connect with people, to make a conscious choice to choose kindness as an expression of love and compassion. With the understanding that, this choice will change how we all live in the world. So, when, at the end of the session we were asked to pull a 'love task' out of a hat, complete it before the next session and come back willing to share our story about completing the task, I wanted to jump up and scream " hello everybody......dakbands!!" I mean, really, what is a 'love task' but a deliberate act of kindness? (I'm done whining. Sorry Tara!)
As I reviewed my notes last night I felt inspired by an analogy that suddenly became very clear to me. Over the past year, while working on my Master's Degree and spending an inordinate amount of time doing research, it has become clear to me (and every other researcher on the planet) that there is often a gap between research and application. Research is one hundred percent theory. And theories are great, but unless there is some practical application, they don't help us. For example, a researcher theorizes that smoking causes lung cancer. Until that theory is tested, and eventually programs/laws are put in place to help reduce those risks, the theory itself isn't that useful. Love is the theory. But it isn't enough to talk about love. For love to be useful, we need to bridge the gap. Love must be applied. Kindness is not only a fruit of the spirit, it is the practical application of 'perfect love' in our lives and communities.
Maybe I need to write a book, The Dakband Revolution?
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