A man is walking along a busy sidewalk, starts to cough, and collapses to the pavement. Do you stop to help? What criteria do you use to decide whether or not to stop?
The following video by NorniTUBE suggests that the clothes on a person's back could spell the difference between life and death.
Anybody else think of the ethic of reciprocity when watching this? Yeah, me neither, but what about The Golden Rule? Jesus said it in Matthew 7:12, "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Truth is...we could also deepen this by going past Matthew 7 and hitting on Matthew 25: "Whatever you've done to the least of these brethren of mine, you have done to me." The video asked, "What if this were you?" I'll go beyond that and ask, "What if this was Jesus?"
For those of you who are parents...or were ever children...does the following sound familiar?
“Say sorry to your brother.”
“But he’s the one who–”
“Say it!” you insist, an edge of warning in your voice.
He huffs, rolls his eyes to the side and says flatly, “Sorry.”
“Say it like you mean it,” you demand.
“Sorrrrry,” he repeats, dragging out the word slowly with bulging eyes and dripping insincerity.
You sigh in defeat and turn to #2, “Now tell him you forgive him.”
“But he doesn’t even mean it!”
“Just say it!”
“iforgiveyou…” he mutters, looking down to the side dejectedly.
“Now be nice to each other.”
Harumphy silence.
That's how many a long, slow, burning resentment begins...and it's also how JoEllen, over at cuppacocoa.com, begins her extremely helpful piece, A Better Way to Say Sorry.
She shares how she has trained her fourth-grade students to go far above and beyond this kind of forced, pseudo-apology to a process that truly brings about awareness of the wrong done and hope for future change. CLICK HERE to read the entire piece, or copy-and-paste this URL into your browser: http://www.cuppacocoa.com/a-better-way-to-say-sorry Truth is...I'm going to use this in my own I'm-a-grown-up-now apologies...not just as a technique, but in an attempt to really repent and really be forgiven.
Just this past Friday, my just-for-giggles blog, Almost the Truth, published a short piece about having prayed for a guy in our church who was working in a different state than where his wife and kids were living. The wife's reaction to the positive answer to our prayers was where the humor popped up. It wasn't until I had clicked "Publish" that I realized the story would be appropriate in THIS space as well. Please open up this new window and give it a quick read (or, copy-and-paste this URL into your browser: http://www.almostthetruth.blogspot.com/2014/05/problematic-blessing.html).
Truth is...life is full of both pleasure and pain, and it's not uncommon to experience them at the exact same time.
Stephen Bishop said it in song: "Everybody needs love; from the old man sleeping in the corner, to the baby smiling in a hurricane." Of course, one of the problems with life as we know it on Planet Earth is that some people tend to be a whole lot better at wanting things their way than in giving loving treatment to others. I would even go so far to say that we normally cut the Golden Rule in half. Instead of "Treat others as you would have them treat you, " we pretty much only concern ourselves with the being-treated-by-others part. And because people are wanting others to treat them nicely...while failing to actually treat others nicely themselves...a lot of people are ending their days completely drained and in desperate need of love. Take a look at this short video and tell me you wouldn't enjoy coming home to something like this every day.
