He Ain't Heavy

 

(Photo Credit: Drobot Dean)

A teenage boy is carrying a smaller boy on his back as he walks down the street. The small boy has heavy braces on his legs. When a passerby asks the teen if carrying the boy is difficult, he replies, “He ain’t heavy… he’s my brother.”

You’re probably familiar with that story. It’s based on a true story that took place in 1918 at Boys Town, a home in Nebraska for abandoned boys. The older boy’s response shows how doing something out of love, rather than merely out of obligation, takes the weight off it. Even if the task appears difficult, doing it willingly and lovingly makes it easier.

 “Tend the flock of God in your midst. Watch over it, not as a duty, but willingly, as God would have it, not for sordid gain, but because you are eager to do so.”   – 1 Peter 5:2

While this verse is directed at Church leaders, it holds a lesson for all of us. We may not be in a position of authority, but we all have ‘flocks’ to serve.

What is the ‘flock in your midst’? It’s the people around you, wherever you are. It’s your coworkers, neighbors, family, friends, enemies, and the people you pass on the street. In other words, it’s everyone we encounter. We’re instructed to serve each other, to ‘carry’ each other, not out of duty but willingly.

How do we shift from serving others merely out of obligation to serving gladly? We start by reminding ourselves to see Christ in every person we meet:  the needy coworker, the slow student, the panhandler we try to ignore on the corner.

May we seek to put their needs ahead of our own and serve them eagerly, lovingly, and joyfully. May we give not out of selfish ambition, not for thanks, praise, or payment, but out of our genuine desire to serve God. May the only reward we hope for be the approval of our Lord Jesus Christ and His promise of eternal life. And when tasks appear difficult, may we remember that serving with love lightens the load.

“Free my heart, Lord, to serve You and others in joyful, loving service.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. Comments are always welcome! Feel free to share it with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Thanks!

 

Signs Are All Around Us

 We read in the Gospels how Jesus’ followers kept close to Him and eagerly listened to Him tell of God’s tender love for them. As a result, their love for Him and their faith in the power of His love brought about miraculous healings for themselves and their loved ones.

In Mark’s Gospel, after Jesus had healed several people, the Pharisees confronted Him:

“To put him to the test they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. Sighing from the depths of his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

–Mark 8:11-12 

Jesus ‘sighed from the depths of His spirit’ – He was exasperated with their refusal to acknowledge the miracles as signs of God’s love. In contrast to the faith of Jesus’ followers, the Pharisees had a suspicious, stand-offish attitude. They weren’t going to follow Jesus, and they didn’t want His love. They just wanted to see Him perform some kind of trick, and He didn’t oblige them.

Sometimes we refuse to see the signs we already have of God’s love and, instead, demand more ‘proof’ from Him. But Christ doesn’t want us to come to Him only when we want something. He wants us to have faith in Him, love Him, and let Him love us. He wants us to see the signs of His love all around us.

What are these signs? There are too many to count: the magnificence of a gorgeous sunrise; His love expressed through our family and friends; His peace when we turn to Him in difficult times; His grace and never-ending forgiveness; His Holy Spirit, Who lives in us and gives us the peace, strength, and courage to love as Jesus loves. Look inside your heart for the signs of His Spirit at work in you:

                When you’re generous, you’re imitating God’s generosity.

            When you’re patient, you’re imitating God’s patience for you.

            When you’re kind to someone who isn’t kind to you, you’re following Christ’s example to turn the other cheek.

            When your heart aches because someone else is hurting, you’re imitating His compassion.

 Acknowledge with gratitude the signs of God’s love all around you. The more we look for these signs, the more we’ll stay focused on God, and the more we can love as He loves. Stay close to Him through the Scriptures and the sacraments, and you will have everything you need.

“Lord, help me grasp and appreciate Your immense love for me.”

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!

 

Going for Gold

This week at the Olympics, athletes from around the world are going for gold! Their dedication is admirable, and we’re inspired by their stories of personal triumph. What’s just as inspiring is how they don’t quit, even after crushing defeats. Even the best of the best have had devastating failures, and yet time and again they renew their pursuit of that ultimate prize, the gold medal.

 ^“Commit your way to the Lord;
    place your trust in him, and he will act.´ -- Psalm 37:5

Like the athletes who recommit every day to their sport, we as Christians must renew our commitment every day to following Christ.  The Olympians pursue gold medals; do we pursue only the ‘gold’ of success at our work?

Or, instead, do we reach for ‘gold’ by following God’s Way and looking for Christ in the people we encounter?

We may take a moment to say a kind word to the delivery person or the server at lunch. We may befriend someone who doesn’t get much recognition, and look for opportunities to compliment them. When people feel affirmed, their heart expands and gives the Lord more room to fill them with His love. They may leave their work feeling more valuable as an employee, which may positively affect how they treat their loved ones at home.

The Eighth Commandment is ‘keep holy the Sabbath.’ When we set aside time for God, and share it with our friends and family, He sees our sacrifice and rewards us for it. God blesses our efforts and empowers all of us with even more of His love, strength, and grace. When we pursue the ‘gold’ of God’s love and place our trust in Him, He will act.

Athletes have victories and defeats, and so do we. And just as they have to get back up after a failure, so do we have to try again, and again. We acknowledge our mistakes and the choices we made that led us to sin; we ask God for His forgiveness and His grace; and then we work with His help to avoid those mistakes in the future.

Regardless of our past victories and failures, let’s recommit today and every day to pursuing God and His Way of love.

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize

for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

– Philippians 3:14

 

 “Lord, may I reach for the ‘gold’ of Your love.”

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!

You Never Know

Even from a distance in the checkout line I could hear the commotion. Walking toward the exit, I saw a woman near the doorway waving her arms and shouting at an employee, her language venomous. Her partner stood at her side, neither encouraging nor discouraging her rampage.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” – Plato

They say that ‘hurt people hurt people’ and that anger is a response to other emotions. Who knows? Maybe that woman had just received some bad news and was hurting inside. Maybe what she was really expressing was fear, or frustration, or helplessness over an unrelated situation. Or, perhaps the employee actually was at fault and the customer had never been taught how to handle or express her emotions. Maybe that wouldn’t excuse her behavior -- but it could explain it.

The lesson of ‘be considerate and don’t criticize because we usually don’t know where someone is coming from’ hit home to me soon after my mom passed away nearly 25 years ago. I was in a grocery store and caught my reflection in a window. It startled me: my face looked angry and mean. I felt sad, not mad, yet anyone looking at me wouldn’t have known that.

When we consider these and other possibilities, we let go of our pride and critical mindset and become more understanding and sympathetic.

Putting ourselves in other people’s shoes helps us to be patient. Have you ever had to rush to the hospital? The car speeding past you might be headed there, too – you never know. The greatest thing to do is ask our Lord to bless them.

You’re trying to be and do your best. Sometimes life’s challenges affect your words and actions; the same is true for all of us. We never know what someone may be going through. Trying to maintain an attitude of kindness will keep open the door to peace, in ourselves and those around us.

“Love is patient, love is kind… love never fails.” --1 Corinthians 13:4, 8

 

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!

 

Just Do It

 

                

  

(Photo credit: Lisa Scribner)

More than a foot and a half of snow has been dumped on our area over the past ten days. (Side note: Google ‘The Great Blizzard of 1978’ to reminisce about the record storm that hit us January 25-27 that year.)  The deep snow is beautiful! It also brings out the best in us: As people work to clear their driveways and sidewalks, it’s not uncommon to see neighbors with snow blowers helping those using shovels. Nobody asks them to, and it would be easy not to; they just do it.

Also, the two photos above show one snowman built by a few kind-hearted teenagers for their shut-in neighbor. Notice that this extraordinary snowman has two faces:  one smiling at the neighbor inside the house, and the other smiling at everyone who passes by. The neighbor didn’t ask them to build it, and the teens could have used the brutally cold weather as an excuse not to. They just did it because they knew it would make her happy – and that made them happy.

Saint Francis de Sales said, “Be who you are, and be that well.” Nike’s slogan is, ‘Just Do It.’ Taken together in light of the life God has given us, these phrases encourage us to cherish our own uniqueness; be and do the best we can; persist in doing what’s good and right; and not let difficulties or obstacles deter us. This persistence is not the same as stubbornly doing whatever we want; rather, it’s doing what God wants. Here are two Biblical examples:

In the story of David and Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17:32-51), Goliath had defied God and was taunting the Israelites. David believed that God would help him defeat Goliath. Disregarding Saul’s protests and his own small stature, David persisted and accomplished what God wanted him to do.  

Also: In the synagogue, Jesus noticed a man with a withered hand (see Mark 3:1-6). The Pharisees watched to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath. “Jesus looked at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart.” He knew it was ‘lawful to do good’ for the man regardless of what day it was. Jesus didn’t let the others’ narrow-mindedness stop Him from doing what was the good and right thing to do; He healed him.

Let’s follow these examples. Let’s persist in doing what’s right and good in any given situation and ignore the voices that try to deter us with excuses. Whatever God puts on our hearts to do -- clear our neighbor’s sidewalk, build a cheery snowman for someone who can’t get outside, or anything else -- let’s just do it, and do it well.

 “Lord, let me see the good I can do, and give me the strength to do it.”

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

 The winter months are a popular time to clean out closets and cabinets, and give what we don’t use to someone who needs it. This isn’t always as easy to do as it sounds.

Giving away our possessions requires letting go of our emotional attachment to them. It requires looking away from ourselves, opening our eyes to the needs of others, and transforming our attitudes from greed to generosity. We may change our perspective from wanting to hold onto something, just to have it, to seeing it as a precious gift to offer to someone else. If we’re absorbed with every little thing we have, then we won’t see the people around us, and we won’t be able to give freely to them.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

– 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

 Being generous implies giving gladly and freely, without hesitation, complaining, or resentment. When we’re generous, we offer before we’re asked; we don’t judge whether or not the recipient ‘deserves’ it; and we disregard how often and how much we’ve already given. We may give quietly or anonymously, and give more than what’s expected.

The above verse from Corinthians goes on to point out that, as we give to others, God will bless us with all that we need and allow us to do even more good:

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.’”  -- 2 Corinthians 9:8-9

When we unclench the fists and hearts we have wrapped around our stuff, we make room for God in that space. We let Him transform our hearts to look with love at our neighbors. We feel moved to ‘reach out with joy’ -- to give not only our material possessions, but our time and energy as well. (See my blog post from last week, ‘Reaching Out With Joy.’)

Let’s remember that, whenever and however we’re open-handed and open-hearted, we imitate Christ. We bring a little bit of heaven to Earth.

“Lord, make my heart like Yours. Make me a cheerful giver.”

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!

Reach Out With Joy

When Jesus began His public ministry, He “went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark 1: 14-15)

Read that again and listen to the joy and excitement in Jesus’ voice. He had been living a quiet life and now it was time to begin teaching the good news about God’s love! He traveled from one town to another, seeking out apostles to work with Him and making Himself available to heal the sick, cast out demons, and offer hope to all (see Mark 1:14-39). He gave us an example of looking for opportunities to serve others with love.

The Bible tells of many holy people who reached out in joyful, selfless service to share God’s love.

For example, Mary had just given consent to become the Mother of God. The angel Gabriel told her that her relative, Elizabeth, was also expecting a baby. What did Mary do? Did she flaunt her new state of grace, sit around the house, and expect her family to wait on her? No; she was so moved by love and humble joy for Elizabeth and how God was making Himself present to both of them that she ‘journeyed in haste’ to visit Elizabeth and to serve her for three months (see Luke 1:39-40, 56).

Even God the Father reached out to us when He sent His Son to save us from the power of sin and death. He still serves us today to draw us closer to Himself:  His wonders of creation fill us with awe; others’ acts of kindness restore our belief in the goodness of people; graced moments bring us peace; and healings – physical, emotional, and spiritual – strengthen our faith in God and His presence in our world.  

So, let’s remember that when we serve others with joyful love -- when we look for opportunities to reach out and show someone kindness or compassion -- we imitate Christ and all the other holy ones.

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do.” --Ephesians 6:7-8

“Lord, soften my heart to reach out and serve others with joy.”

Feel free to share my reflections with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Thanks!