30 Day Blog Challenge Day 12: My Favorite Quotation

Here we are up to day 12 already. I'm enjoying this so much that I may do another 30 days--sometime in the next few years, maybe. But I really am having fun. And today's topic was one that I instantly knew what I was going to write about. It's my favorite quotation.

If you know me very well, you probably can guess this. It's one of the last lines from the musical version of Les Miserables. In case you don't know it, (which I can't imagine anyone doesn't know about it) it's about a man named Jean Valjean who is just getting out of prison for stealing bread to keep his sister's children from starving. He can't find work or anywhere to stay until he comes across a Godly bishop who takes him in and feeds him heartily. Valjean repays him by stealing the only objects the bishop has of monetary value--a silver collection. Shortly, the police bring him back saying he claims the bishop gave him the silver, the bishop verifies his story, even giving him the candlesticks that he forgot. When the police leave, the bishop tells Valjean that he just bought his soul for God. Valjean works the rest of his life to pay back this shockingly generous gift. At the end of the story, as Valjean is lying on his death bed, his beloved adopted daughter holding his hand, Valjean is surrounded by every person who has gone on to Heaven as a result of his love. As they welcome into Paradise, they sing the line, "To love another person is to see the face of God."

That line is how I try to live my life. The Bible says that anytime we do unto the least of these, we are doing it unto God. So I try to think of every relationship I have, whether it's long or short, as an opportunity to see the face of God by loving others.

If you haven't seen this musical, you simply must. It was life-altering for me. I came out of it with a mission to become a better, more loving person. For a taste of it, here's the scene. The line is at the very end. It's long. Watch it all--your patience will be rewarded.