Humanness

 What is it to be really human?  Luke 10:25-37 says this, 

"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Perhaps the question is... how do we go and do likewise?  How would the world change if we all went and did likewise?  How can we become merciful?  How do we show this level of compassion, concern and dedication?  Can we all agree on this... that this Samaritan man was human in a way we all want to be?  Can we start with kindness even on social media?  Can we see... really see the pain of others and choose to offer compassion instead of condemnation?  I'm thinking of a song by Brandon Heath "Give me Your Eyes" God, open our eyes and teach us to show mercy!

Cancel or Kindness?

I watched a movie last night called "Not Cinderella's type".  Check it out here.  I'm a sucker for a good chick flick... but it has to be a good chick flick.  That means it doesn't twist my truth.  There aren't these instant bed scenes that make sex the object.  They have to have some depth of meaning.  I know,  that is a  high standard these days.  But I found this movie to touch something deeply inside.  Not because there was a little romance running through it, and the the happy-ever-after ending was unrealistic, but it was pretty ideal.

I was struck by the contrast and the kindness.  "Not Cinderella's type"  The contrast was between two boys who wanted the attentions of "Indy"(the Cinderella character in the story) One was a very good friend who loved Indy in her circumstance.  He loved being with her, but never really defended her. The other saw her circumstance and was moved to offer kindness and rescue.  Ultimately the story was of a girl learning to have her own voice.

I found myself playing back the part where she was treated with kindness.  She is overwhelmed by the littlest acts of kindness.  It touched my soul just to see such goodness.  Funny, we see many things in movies but goodness is rare.  

I wasn't raised with much kindness so I can, in some ways, relate to Indy.  As our society turns more from kindness to hostility, I have felt the same dread as when I was younger.  My question is why?  Or maybe why not?  Why do we choose a mean spirit instead of a kind one?  And why not choose to go against the flow and pick one good thing about the people you encounter to dwell on today?  Perhaps, if we focus on the good, kindness will come of it.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." 

Day 18 Bringing Life to Order: (different perspective on kindness)

This thread began on February 7th

I received a lot of notes yesterday both on my blog and personally expressing sympathy for my health issues. I am grateful for your kindness but, though I appreciate the compassion behind everyone's sympathy, I'm not sure I did very well in getting my point across.

MCS is a handicap or maybe a blessing? I am the canary in the mine. I am quick to notice things that are a hazard to us all. It saddens me that we are so flippant in our use of hazardous stuff. I'm sure there are many people who will go to this store and buy blankets (see yesterday’s blog) for themselves and not understand that they need to be washed. There is no notice or warning on the blankets saying they are sprayed with pesticides. There was no indication the possible effects of this spray was even considered. This concerns me.

Is it that we don’t think about the consequences at all? Like would we spray a babies crib with wasp spray because there was a wasp on the pillow? Or would we think about the consequences and say, “This would be bad for the baby. I need to come up with a better idea?” On a broader scale do we have cause and effect in our brains at all? I think that goes back to the idea of kindness. Kindness starts with an awareness of how my actions will affect others. Or maybe it starts with realizing that these slow moving obstacles in grocery store isles are really people who deserve to be considered and ministered to. We feel no need to be kind to obstacles but we are kind to people we care about, aren’t we? Well, I am not always kind, especially towards those I care the most about. That perplexes me too.

I bought my blanket in the same place where I saw the man who was playing happily with the necklaces and sticks. (see Day 16’s blog) He was one of a bus load of similar folk all coming to shop for what caught their eye. There were young mothers there with babies. These are people, people worthy of our concern and compassion. Would the same people that spray the blankets they sell in this store, spray their own baby’s blankets with the same stuff? I don’t know the answer to that but it perplexes either way.

I confess I am struggling to understand cause and effect. I get it when I’m the one affected. But, I do many things not realizing the ripple effect it has on those around me. I guess as I am asking God to open my eyes to opportunities to respond kindly. I am beginning to see how much of the time I don’t respond one way or another. Lot’s to bring to order that’s for sure.

Yesterday’s report: I spent most of the day out of commission :-/

1) (business meeting with God) Wondering where God is leading us from here.

2) (blog)

3) (Act of Random Kindness)

4) (Clean something)

5) (Order something)

6) (Book)

7) (Family)

8) (Me)

9) (Ministry)

10) (rest) I did rest most of the day.

Day 6: Bringing Life to Order

The beginning of this thread is on February 7th

Yesterday felt good! The advantage to having a ministry house is that you have a place to do ministry. The disadvantage is the taxes. I am in the process of contesting the value placed on our house by the city. But for this year our taxes were surprisingly high. We finally paid them off yesterday w00t!

Thank you God for your supply! Sometimes I’m afraid to face the dragon, like, do the hard thing for the day which usually is filling out forms, making travel arrangements, Doctor appointments or supplying information requested by somebody. I have formaphobia you know, which the abject terror of filling out any forms (yes I am making this up lol!) It was hard to just do it… face the shame of walking into the city office and paying taxes which were supposed to be paid last summer and if I had been more forward thinking (in order) would have been paid last summer. Funny, there were a lot of people in there still paying their taxes for this year. (They are considered “delinquent” on March 1^st).

I don’t know what happened in the process but on the way in to pay the bill I was oblivious of those around me, not really noticing people as people, or even people in the same boat as me, just focused on my task. On the way back to the car something clicked and I started to really see the people around me. My act of random kindness in that moment was to intentionally smile at someone who wasn’t used to being smiled at. He was actually, visibly touched! Gosh, can a smile really matter? It reminds me of an amazing book called “Hope for the Flowers” which is about a couple of caterpillars that are searching for the more in life. When they found it for themselves (their butterfly destiny) they saw it in others as well. Hmmmm

I did another deliberate thing as an act of kindness. I picked up a small plant for a friend of mine who is home bound. I wanted to bring a little spring into her house. She also was visibly touched… to the point of tears. It saddens me to know how out of the ordinary my action seemed to be. We don’t seem to have time for kindness much anymore. I lingered for a while to visit… ran an errand for her, which helped make her evening hours less worrisome. I went home feeling blessed.

Today's report

1) (bsmtg w God) I felt more like I knew why I was having these meetings w00t!

2) (blog) yup

3) (ARK) This stands for an act of random kindness… Thanks God for waking me up in time yesterday

4) (Cln smthg) I vaccumed my house yesterday

5) (Odr smthg) paid bills

6) (Bk) nope

7) (Fam) I did have good connection with hubby whose still out of town

8) (Me) took time in the morning to journal some rough feelings grief because of my chaos

9) (Mnstry) yup

10) (rest) started slow that was restful