Hello
Thanks for your continued encouragement, prayers and support. I truly appreciate you. You never know how or when your encouragement might hit the spot; for me or for others.
Here’s today’s Holy Nougat
““And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ … And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’” Matthew 25:40, 45 NLT
I’ve had my share of self-absorbed days, when ‘my ‘, ‘me’ and ‘I’ are both subject and object of any discourse. Thanks be to God, there are days when I open my heart and allow Jesus in, giving others an opportunity to impact my life. I suspect that that’s the case with most people. The real challenge lies in our response to the hungry, tired, lonely and hurting lives which pass our way; especially when we’re feeling self absorbed.
It’s NOT always easy to consider those in need – not the beggars (panhandlers), Who may or may not be in genuine need; not the grieving; not the outcast (choose any group in your current world), not the naked (unclothed by discovery of their actions), not the hungry, not the poor, and definitely not the depressed or hurting! Perhaps it is that they make us uncomfortable, or they challenge our notion of normalcy. Whatever it is, we even put limits on their access to us for help.
Before we get wholly swamped by our failures (or not); I wonder – how does our system respond when we DO share? Aside from celebrating that we may have shifted the balance sheet? I suspect that giving selflessly actually triggers our endorphins and gives us that wonderful feeling. If my theory is correct, then we need to do more beyond ourselves and life will be more pleasant.
Ultimately it’s really about doing good for God’s sake, and discovering the positive side effects even when there’s no thank you in response. Not easy until we remember to Whom we are accountable.
In short, we live the gospel in the words of John Wesley
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
