When did you last 'help' someone cry?

EMPATHY…The capacity to participate in another’s feelings or ideas.

Carol Warner in her book, The Last Word, tells this story:

Her little girl was late arriving home from school so the mother began to scold her, but stopped and asked, “Why are you so late?”  “I had to help another girl. She was in trouble,” was the reply.  ”What did you do to help her?”  “Oh, I sat down and helped her cry.”

From Romans 12, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

“To handle yourself, use your head;

to handle others, use your heart.”

We Must Choose...Everyday!!

I sincerely believe that you and I can make this world a better place.  Is that a non-realistic, sentimental view?  I don’t think so…

Harry Emerson Fosdick stated the terms of reality:  “Realism is degraded when it slips down into the idea that only ugly things are real.”

He continued:  “…some write novels…as though sewers were the only real things and that mountain streams are not…slums are real but so are humble and beautiful homes…Judas Iscariot is real but so is JESUS CHRIST. If a man is to be realist, let him be thorough about it.”

So this real world presents a choice to each of us today.  That choice is to determine whether we’re going to use our lives in terms of service or selfishness.  YOU AND I MUST CHOOSE…reality demands it. 

Are you willing to accept His invitation?

All of us think about the past and probably most of us are concerned about the future. (Pessimism declares that you learn to face the future by dreading one day at a time.)

The most important thing for all of us is to examine our hearts.  God wants each of us to develop our talents and to use our opportunities.  By looking within our hearts and by listening to God, we can make the future powerful instead of “dreadful”.

As far as the past is concerned, we can bring our lives to God to receive forgiveness…we can learn from the past…but we need to cremate and not embalm those items that are detrimental to dynamic living in the present.

God is willing to help each of us…the choice is ours to accept His gracious invitation. 

A better world begins with me...

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…” 

Declaration of Independence

Freedom can be ushered in by liberty bells.  It can be ushered out by “dumb bells.”

Freedom means that I must recognize the importance of doing my duty just as I recognize the “rights” that belong to me.

There is a “discipline of liberty”.  That discipline requires that I consider my fellow citizens with courteous respect and honest living. That discipline requires that I constantly search my heart to develop those qualities that make for a better world.

“A better world begins with me…”

Do you talk to yourself or just say "Huh?" to the question?

One good think about talking to yourself is that you always have an attentive audience.

Each ought to ask:

SELF, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE?

SELF, ARE YOU MAKING YOUR CORNER OF THE WORLD BETTER?

SELF, ARE YOU BEING AS PART OF THE SOLUTION OR A PART OF THE PROBLEM?

SELF, ARE YOU GROWING THROUGH LIFE OR MERELY GOING THOUGH LIFE?

SELF, ARE YOU MORE CONCERNED ABOUT ADDING YEARS TO YOUR LIFE THAN YOU ARE OF ADDING LIFE TO YOUR YEARS?

SELF, ARE YOU WILLING TO EXAMINE YOUR PRIORITIES?

Is your disposition 'cloudy' or is it just the weather?

REMEMBER:

The three things that we crave most in life; happiness, freedom and peace of mind… are always attained by giving them to someone else.

This is why Jesus taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

PERSONAL EXAMINATION:

If I am miserable today, I need to formulate a spiritual gift list of items that I can GIVE:  items like courtesy, friendliness and sensitive concern.  Generous giving from this list will do much to alleviate my cloudy disposition. 

Love Never Fails

“Somewhere out there is a unique place for you to help others…a unique life role for you to fill that only you can fill.”  (Thomas Kinkade.)

The Holy Spirit describes the attitude of life that is truly mature.  He uses the word “love” as a synonym for the maturity that makes it possible for us to fill the unique role that God has assigned.

“Love is patient.  Love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  LOVE NEVER FAILS.”  I Corinthians 13