A moth made in heaven

Yesterday I brought in some clothes from the washing line and later on found a moth sitting on one of the shirts. I wanted it out of the room (because it's harder to get to sleep if I know there are bugs around me) and stood for a while, plotting my plan of attack. I'm not very good with bugs, but I know that moths are harmless. In fact, I'm quite adept at catching them and biffing them outside usually but this one got the better of me. I was too chicken to pick it up and the longer I looked at it, the more grossed out I got by its bug-ness so I grabbed a tissue and tried to get it to hop onto it so I could carry it. This failing, I did something that I felt, and still feel, really bad about: I squished it.

I tried to justify my actions by thinking that it was just a moth and there are plenty more where that came from, and that it probably wasn't going to live long anyway... but the guilt came rolling in and then my brain decided to have a deep conversation with me about the parallels between moths and life. So here goes:

Brain: You know that was really selfish.
Me: Uh...
Brain: You could have easily just taken it outside.
Me: Well, I...
Brain: And then the moth would be fine, and you'd feel much better.
Me: Ok I get it, can we talk about something else?
Brain: Nope. So I was thinking (because that's my job) that this is a lot like life.
Me: Oh man, save me know.
Brain: You see, instead of making a small sacrifice for the moth, you decided to do something even more costly to all those involved.
Me: Well maybe next time I'll do it just to shut you up.
Brain: And, now we get to learn from your mistake and apply it to the real world.
Me: Oh joy.
Brain: So humor me. If it had been a butterfly, would you have taken it outside?
Me: Uh, I mean sure. They're so pretty.
Brain: But isn't a moth just a slightly browner version of a butterfly?
Me: They are SO different...
Brain: But can you see where I'm going?
Me: Kinda...
Brain: Look at it this way. You let your judgements of the moth get in your way of making a small sacrifice to help it. Instead of loving straight away, you let yourself turn away in disgust and get rid of the "problem" in a way that was essentially inhumane.
Me: Hey, that's a bit harsh don't you think?
Brain: But don't you see? You're called to love all of creation, whether moth, tree, person, dog, no matter what. Selective loving doesn't cut it. You need to love unconditionally, 24/7, 365 days a year. Whoever or whatever happens to cross your path, your first reaction is love.
Me: Love. Moths. You gotta be joking.
Brain: God created all things, great and small. If you can love a moth, you can love anything.
Me: So, what you're saying is, that I made a decision that was not from love?
Brain: Yeah! You're getting it now.
Me: OK, so if I come from the perspective of love first, not judge first, what will happen?
Brain: What Jesus calls us to do is further His kingdom. You see, Jesus lives in the love we share for one another. He is where love comes from so if we love, then we are demonstrating Jesus to the world. God said to leave the judgement up to Him. All we gotta do is love like Jesus would and you're on the right track.
Me: I see where you're going. Actually I'm kinda glad the judging is not up to me. It's tiring stuff.
Brain: So true! I'd rather we focused on brainstorming of how we can show love to people.
Me: Sounds like a plan!
Brain: :)

So you can see that it was quite an intense discussion but I hope I got the message across. If you can make a small sacrifice to show a little love, it will be so much greater than looking after number one. Trust me.