The Samaritan Who Helped a Stranger

Jesus Tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, 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 on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." Luke 10:25-36 KJV

The Parable Explained

The Bible verses mention to love your neighour as you love yourself. What is the self love spoken of? What does it mean to love your neighbour as you love yourself?

This is my take on what it means to love yourself: When you love yourself, you have dignity, you have respect for self, you have self esteem. Self esteem is very different from selfish love or ego. Ego is boastful and mindful of your own needs only, whereas self esteem is a confident state of satisfaction with oneself, having an honest measure of knowing one's strengths and weaknesses and thereby displaying humility. One must be understanding of people who seem to be wrapped up in ego, as this may arise from a damaged sense of self and may come from an unconscious lack of self esteem. Self esteem is a confident state of being, whereas ego may be thought of as a longing of more for self in a driving need to fill the yawning emptiness inside.

Where Do Lost Christians Go?

Have you ever had a dream and wondered what it meant? I recall a strange dream I had once. I can't remember everything, but I seem to remember I was in a house sleeping with my family and everything was locked up and felt safe, and then I woke up and left that safe place. A distant family member showed me a way out from there down the passage, and when I wandered down, I noticed an old, rickety, white metal security door that was ajar, and there were dogs or wolves coming in and out of the door. I then closed the door, which took a bit of effort, and saw it could not be locked, and I realised that the last part of the house was open and ended without walls. I had thought I was safe in there, but realised I hadn't been all along. I then wondered if this could be an analogy for when I stopped attending a particular church, where I initially thought I was safe and which I considered to by my home church, only to find that undercurrents of unethical politics were rampant, like ravening wolves on the rampage.

After that experience I wandered in the wilderness for a while, meaning I was searching for another church to call home, but not wanting to really commit; after all, as the Bible says, Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and I was worried about being drawn to attend another church and then finding out wolves were dogging the fringes. In my case, I am fortunate to have strong faith, and I know that what I was experiencing was either a test from God to make me stronger and to learn my lessons, or mayhap I had misunderstood the circumstances, or else I had thankfully escaped from a church that was not meant for me.

I wonder, how many of the lost something like this happened to? You go to church expecting to find caring people, and instead find the same politics you will find in the world? Yet I do realise an impression like this may be based on an incidental event that may not be the norm for the organisation concerned and many other churchgoers may continue to have a wonderful experience at the same church, it depends on complex individual circumstance. Any of the individuals who attend church may have complex struggles each is dealing with and God may be working in each life. God accepts each person with faults and struggles and failings, though He does expect people to follow the narrow path of righteousness. Only God knows the motive behind incidents that happen where someone feels the need to walk away due to being hurt. I muse now that perhaps I was not thoroughly grounded in the church community at the time and perhaps I might have stuck it out and seen things through if I had been. Sometimes a lesson is learnt where at the same time it may also really hurt.

People in Poverty Need Assistance Merging Into Society: Both Children as Well as Adults

I used to drive into Jo'burg, South Africa, every week day to do my job in an office environment. Some days I drove in early, before the city centre began the bustling day, and I would see street children lying huddled on the sidewalks, with sleeping bags or threadbare blankets or sheets of plastic covering them. I surmise some were quite young, perhaps eight years old, and others already into their late teens. If I caught a bus during the day, there they were too, sitting or milling about in the general area, as they slept on top of the open bus shelters (though I heard that the shelters were modified later and people could no longer lie down in them). Raggedy children, no socks, tekkies (sneakers) stretched and worn, scabs and cuts on their legs and arms, dirty from lack of washing, with dreary eyes, sometimes carrying bottles of glue to sniff in groups, to keep the cold and the hopelessness and dead feelings away. I saw these children often and yet I continued on to work or I went home to my bed at night, pushing thoughts of them out of my mind. These children were part of the landscape.

The Gossip Trap

Imagine the following:

Grace walked into the building for her first day of work at a new job. She paused at the coffee area and asked for directions to get to her office. The young lady with laughing green eyes and short brown hair said, good morning, are you new, pleased to meet you, I'm Jessie, and they had a brief but pleasant chat, before Grace went on through to her office. Later in the morning, Grace's manager, Susan, came past and told Grace she'd take her around to meet her fellow colleagues. Everyone was very friendly and Grace felt quite happy to be working for this company. On their rounds, she spied Jessie, the young lady she had chatted to when she first arrived this morning, and said to Susan, oh, I met her this morning. You don't want to mix with her, Susan frowned, she is trouble and I hear rumours all the time from that office about what a bully she is. Grace paused and glanced quickly in Jessie's direction in surprise. She seemed pleasant enough this morning, she said nervously. Grace avoided Jessie's goodbye on the way out to her car that afternoon, though she saw the hurt expression in Jessie's eyes before she turned away.

A few months later, Grace is in a meeting with Susan discussing workplace bullying and counter measures that can be implemented to eliminate this devastating practice. In the office next door, two people have recently been suspended for spreading unfounded, malicious gossip about a few people, including Jessie who resigned the week before. Grace crumbles internally, thinking if only she had followed her heart and gut instinct and had given Jessie a chance. She has always told herself not to allow gossip to cloud her judgement of someone, yet, due to a vague statement from someone who heard something from someone else, she fell into the bullies' trap.

Getting the Nod

The following is a fictional example based on real life events: I have spent all week preparing for this morning's presentation and I am going to demo a suggested new paperless system to my manager and my colleagues, a few of whom were involved in assisting with research and preparation. The new system will revolutionise the way we work, making it much more streamlined and efficient. I arrive at the room fifteen minutes early to set up the equipment. When the first of my colleagues arrive I am sitting down nervously, tapping my fingers on the keyboard, eager to begin. My manager walks in as the hour is reached, and I smile at him and I start giving my presentation. A few people walk in late but I pay them no mind. I have only been speaking for a minute or so when my manager interrupts. But Shirley, he says, how long will it take to implement this and I don't see the benefit? A few of my colleagues pipe up briefly in reply, as they back the idea wholeheartedly, but then they stop talking as they see my manager frown. There are a few embarrassed coughs. I hesitate, my manager shakes his head, and the presentation is over. I pack away my laptop slowly as I stare around the empty room once everyone has left. I was so sure he would be interested in the idea. What happened?

Think of a Mexican Wave. Will the Wave be born if only one person stands up in an audience? The Wave needs people to stand up and work together in unison with one accord to be successful, and likewise if you have an idea for positive change it will not happen unless a number of other people are willing to support the idea and create impetus, like a rolling snowball gathering more and more snow as it careens along. I attended a church sermon once where the Pastor made us try out the Mexican Wave as a congregation, and it worked really well to demonstrate this concept, especially to create a festive atmosphere!

Much of success hinges on getting crucial applause. One cannot work forever in a vacuum. Oh, Vincent van Gogh painted his entire life without much validation, so there are exceptions, but how many people will carry on for a lifetime if they do not get validation?

When you stand up to do something, do you get the nod, or do you immediately need to sit back down again? How much more could we get done if more stood up to support their colleagues in implementing positive progress?

Stopping Before You Have Even Started

Imagine, for example, you are delighted as you finally have an amazing idea for a book. You pinch yourself internally to make sure you are not dreaming as you think the idea is simply brilliant. You rush off to tell your husband and the first thing he says is, the story is not believable as it stands and maybe you should end it differently. You look at him, aghast. Your entire concept hinges on the ending, and without it you feel you do not have a book. Oh well, you shrug, at least you did not go ahead and waste your time writing the book! But, what if your initial idea for a story was indeed brilliant? What if you did have an amazing concept that might have been a future best seller, yet, you did not even try and were swayed by another person's opinion? What do you stop yourself from doing before you have even started?

Maybe You Need a Change of Song?

It may be difficult knowing when to listen to an opinion, and when not, as there are times when you may hold an incorrect viewpoint of your own abilities, but there may also be times when your abilities are incorrectly judged by others who do not see your true potential and value.

I have seen people audition for reality music shows, and the judges laughed at them, yet they got quite offended as they believed they were quite talented. Might the judges be wrong in some of these cases? I am sure they sometimes are. Other people might audition and an entire audience rises to its feet, leaving the person astounded, as the person was largely unaware of his or her own impressive talent, though may have had an inkling of this and hope for recognition.

Sometimes it is best to keep plodding along on your path in spite of what you may hear to the contrary. Maybe your breakthrough will be in a slightly different avenue, for example, if you love music and love to sing, yet never hear a positive word about your singing, maybe you should be a music teacher instead. But if you believe you can sing and haven't yet found the right audience, keep singing. Maybe you need only a change of song?

My author page: Shirley Anne's Author Page

I Changed My Mind! What's the Motive?

Have you ever decided to do something, for example, accepted an invite to coffee with a friend and you have even looked forward to the meeting, yet when the day arrived you no longer felt as if you wanted to meet? Maybe you have even invited someone to coffee yourself with a glib statement, in a moment of magnanimity, not expecting them to actually take you up on the invitation! Or perhaps it might be something you said you would do and then didn't follow through with, like volunteering to complete a certain task. I am not sure why this process occurs, but perhaps because an event is far off, I surmise that we do not always think the process through fully and all that it entails, and though it seemed like a good idea at the time, when the day arrives we realise all that is involved, or negative emotions related to the task or person come to the fore. I have been guilty of examples of these types of situations myself in the past, yet I know when I accepted the invitations, or the tasks, that I had every intention of honouring them! I now consciously try to make sure I think a process through before making a commitment and I try to honour my promises. Yet, I know I may change my mind and there may be some things I may still back away from in future.

It is important to think things through before offering a commitment or extending an invitation. If you do change your mind, make it clear why this has happened, if it is pertinent to do so. I would prefer to know that someone no longer wants to meet with me, than to be strung along for weeks with promises of a future coffee that never materialises. There is social etiquette to bear in mind too, as it may be emotionally destroying for someone to be told by someone else that they no longer wish to meet and therefore a dance of avoidance occurs.

The Worrying Steps in the Slippery Slope Towards Genocide

I write about genocide here to make people aware of how easily discrimination mindsets can form, so that we may be mindful of the warning signs to look out for in the societies we live in, to ensure this devastating consequence of a people divided never happens again.

Genocide happens still in this modern world we live in. The minority group in Rwanda, Tutsis, had previously held power for centuries before being overthrown by Hutus in a rebellion between 1959-1962, and the two groups then lived relatively peacefully together under the new Hutu led government. Genocide of Tutsis (1) occurred in Rwanda in 1994 when 500,000 - 1,000,000 people were killed over a period of 100 days. Ironically, after the genocide occurred, Tutsis regained power, doing away with previous peace accords. This is a similar scenario to that which may be building in South Africa, as, during apartheid, the minority group of white people held power, which was then peacefully handed over to the entire nation in 1994, and now Genocide Watch warns that South Africa is currently at stage 6 of genocide towards white people, which is the last stage before mass extermination happens, and I pray this will never occur there, in the land that gave me birth. It is essential for all types of people to learn to live together, because one can clearly see the consequences when we do not!

According to Genocide Watch's 8 Stage Model, the first step along the road of discrimination that may lead towards genocide is classification. We need to classify, so we can name and know, but classification is usually taken further into us and them mindsets. When it begins to include symbolisation, then stage two of the process is reached. For example, a symbol may be distinct physical features in societies where people look markedly different from each other, or where members of a certain group are marked with a symbol forcefully or willingly, like carrying a different emblem or flag to that embraced by the rest of the country.

Classification and symbolisation on their own are not reasons for concern, as people may be proud of their unique culture and heritage as reflected by these stages, but when combined with dehumanisation, the stage is set for possible genocide. Dehumanisation is when a group may start to look upon another group of people with fear and loathing, seeing them as different and wrong, as not quite human and somehow inferior, or perhaps even as hateful domineering people. The scene is now building for further discrimination and hatred and this may lead towards genocide if further steps are allowed to occur.

In This World You Will Have Trouble, But Jesus Said He Overcame the World

The words below were taken verbatim from the World English Bible:

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do to you for my name's sake, because they don't know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me, hates my Father also. If I hadn't done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn't have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father. But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'

"When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:18-27 WEB)

"These things have I spoken to you, so that you wouldn't be caused to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn't tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don't go away, the Counselor won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment; about sin, because they don't believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won't see me any more; about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

 

"I have yet many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now. However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you. All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me." Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you won't see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;' and, 'Because I go to the Father?'" They said therefore, "What is this that he says, 'A little while?' We don't know what he is saying." Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, "Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, 'A little while, and you won't see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?' Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn't remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

"In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name; and I don't say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came out from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."

His disciples said to him, "Behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no figures of speech. Now we know that you know all things, and don't need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world." (John 16:1-33 WEB)

A Rainbow Reminds Us of Beauty Around Us

The sun burns scorching fire in the dry heat of day. Ancient crags rise like colossal stone giants stepping over the bare savannah, strewing stone rubble in their wake. Tiny white butterflies flit along a treacherous gravel path etched along the mountainside from the weary tread of decades of oxen and sheep trudging to fertile pasture o'er the faraway hills.

Around the bend a waterfall cascades a merry dance in the shadow of an overhang and spreads feathery wet fingers into a deep blue lake below, the sound a constant trickle of delight. As the gaze shifts, a delicate long legged deer crashes, started, into the undergrowth of the tangled forest edge, the greenery of the shadows clashing markedly with the harsh desert landscape now out of sight.

A shimmering lake deepens to span the low point of the valley below. The sound of a fish eagle rises like a triumphant battle cry on the soft breeze. Whirling dusts skips a dance across the path in the eddy's wake.

Fluffy white clouds mass and then darken, burgeoning grey with the heavy promise of rain. A flash lights up the landscape and then a crack of thunder echoes like a heavy handed whip. Fat rain drops fall, splashing dust as they plop earthwards, and then soaking the parched landscape. The scent of dirt and rain mingles. Runoff gathers in rivulets of streaky wet.

The storm is over in an instant. Light slips through as clouds part and scatter, as if a giant hand dips them aside. A startling rainbow shimmers into presence, arcing over the valley, a promise of life anew. Ancient cycles turn as time ticks on.

"I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. " (Genesis 9:11-13 WEB)

Walk Into Hope

Hope is believing any setback is temporary and that you are walking a journey that is making you stronger and leading you along the right path.

Imagine that you never experienced trials? Would you learn what courage meant? Would you know the depths of resolve that you could plumb? Would you ever feel satisfied knowing that you could always make it through difficult situations?

Trials make us stronger. We endure. We learn. We grow, emotionally and spiritually.

Trust that when the path ahead looks blocked, a way will open. Trust that when things don't go the way you would like them to, that it's because a better door is waiting for you to find it.

If you don't get the job you were hoping for, maybe it's because there's a better one around the corner. When you are excluded from joining an exclusive members-only club, would you have wanted to be part of the club? If your book is turned down for publishing again and again, might it be that somewhere a publisher is eagerly waiting for your exact story? Or is it because you needed to write the first book, so that you could go on to write the second, which you thought would be inferior but that will be an instant bestseller? Or maybe it's because you were not meant to be a writer, but a teacher? Yet again, maybe it's because God wanted you to write your book for one lonely person on the other side of the world who now has hope.

When your path ahead looks like it leads into ever darkening despair, keep walking with your head firmly down until you reach the plateau where you can see for miles all around you, and maybe you will see the path you came from was actually a short cut through endless mountains of gloom.

Keep walking into hope.

When Truth Doesn't Matter

Imagine you are told not to continue attending the last day of a training course on social etiquette in business because your manager, who didn't attend, received a complaint from the lecturer that you fundamentally disagreed with a key part of the course content.

What? you exclaim. That's not what happened! I suggest we all meet to discuss the matter. And, you think to yourself, what's wrong with disagreeing with someone else's viewpoint?

I am sorry but your name has been removed from security clearance to enter the training course. If you would like to complete the course then I will give you a copy of the course material and I will go over it with you.

It is all you can do to stumble to your car and drive home without having an accident, your sight a blur as tears fall freely. You feel rejected and misunderstood and bullied. All you remember that might have created this mess is saying that integrity should always be maintained in business dealings, and your course lecturer disagreed with your statement, and you did voice some anger at the ethics of this but then kept quiet, and the lecturer was friendly towards you for the remainder of the day. Could that be why you are being excluded? What else could be the cause of your being barred? You feel like a child sent to her room for doing something wrong without being told beforehand what the rules were.

Follow the Holy Way

The following excerpt is taken from the latter part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I omitted a  few verses in between to allow for flow of this message.

"Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 WEB)

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.
(Note: Mammon means worshipping wealth or greed)

Therefore, I tell you, don't be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they? "Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith? "Therefore don't be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will we be clothed?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient. (Matthew 6:24-34 WEB)

"Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 WEB)

"Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 WEB)

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?' Then I will tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.'

"Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

It happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes. (Matthew 7:21-29 WEB)

A Situation Defused

Imagine the following scenario:

"Watch where you're going!", the woman glares at me over tiny wire-frame spectacles, her eyes glinting malice from her wrinkled face. "You kicked my shopping!"

I have just tripped over this woman's woven shopping basket left lying askew in the cobbled pathway, and a tin clatters aside. "Sorry", I mumble, not too apologetically. "That basket should have been under a chair", I suggest helpfully, thinking I could have gone flying into the mud.

"Who do you think you are?" she murmurs venom. "One o' them foreigners, hmph! Think you can just walk all over me, do you? I have lived here for thirty years and I demand respect from the likes o' you."

I stare at her. I guess she heard my accent, I muse. A multitude of possible replies dance through my mind. Should I tell her to go jump in a lake to cool off? Who does she think she is anyway? I recognise this age-old game of manipulation in trying to make me feel shame and guilt because of who I am, and who she thinks she is. So what if she has lived here all her life and her family too? Is a fate of circumstance a reason for status? Why does she think that fact somehow makes her deserving of deference? Imagine being classed as more worthy of someone else because of which street you are born in, now that could make a good blog post! I tell her off in my mind, a casual smile on my face as I stare into nothing.

I am awakened from my reverie when she prods me in the ribs with her walking cane.

"Well, get a move on!" she screeches.

Light of this new morning dances before me. It is a lovely day. I pause a moment, carefully considering my answer. "God bless you. Enjoy your day", I softly say and walk on. She stops waving her cane, her face a frozen mask of surprise.

Oh I have learnt my lessons the hard way, I reflect. There was a day when I would have been unable to keep my temper in check and I might have bubbled vitriole in reply, but what is the point? I will probably never see her again and why let her animosity spoil my day? Chances are that would land me in trouble, and I imagine what people would say if they were to see me, a large buxom lady, shouting as I tower over this tiny, seemingly defenseless, woman.

I walk on and consciously drop thoughts of her tirade and the glimpse I have seen of her hate-filled mindset. I consider too that I don't know the journey she has walked to react the way she did towards me today. Did I remind her of someone she hates, I wonder? It truly is better to hold my tongue, is the last thought about the situation that fleets through my mind. If I had said something I might have spent the day regretting it, and now the memory I can hold is of her surprised face. I smile. The day suddenly seems brighter.

Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. " (Matthew 5:43-48 KJV)

One World. One Nation

I dream that someday we will all unite together as one: One World. One Nation.

Who you are will be all that's important. You will all be seen as having value, every single one, with names and faces and personalities and flaws and hopes and dreams and strengths and weaknesses. You will have a calling and a purpose.

We won't see rags, we will see potential. We won't see religion or culture, we will see identity. We will all be colour blind. We will be blind to disability and status and wealth.

If you are dying, someone will care. If you have cancer, the first thought will be to ask when will treatment start, not do you have enough money.

There will be more people on the side of good than of bad.  If someone bullies or teases or hurts another person, no matter who the other person is, peer pressure will cut that behaviour down.

Your past won't matter, your future will be yours to grasp. People who stumble will be given another chance.

There will be no popularity contests, no cliques, no subtle manipulation and exclusion. If you have a personality quirk, there will be someone who understands how you feel and who will listen.

Imagine a world where light shines?

Jesus said, "This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God." (John 3:19-21 WEB)

One Voice

Imagine you are a lone voice of integrity trying to be heard above a maelstrom of complacency and wrong. You step forward as a tiny speck in the midst of the howling gale of the world and you shout and the wind grabs your words and muffles them in an instant. What does it take to be heard? It seems futile to think one voice can overpower a storm, yet, imagine if a few people hear and join in and start to shout together in unison. Imagine if the lone voice grows to becomes a gale blustering from the opposing side and overpowering the prevailing trend. Change for good may happen, but it does not happen on its own. It takes individuals working together to form one voice.

"Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in Yahweh's law. On his law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish." (Psalm 1 WEB )

Do You Play Follow the Leader?

In 1961, a scientist called Milgram conducted a series of experiments on obedience to authority figures and different volunteers were drafted to take part. The volunteers were given some form of payment for participating. There were three roles involved in the experiment, an expert (authority figure), a teacher and a learner. The expert and the leaner were internal people who knew what was going to happen in the experiment, and only the teacher was an outside volunteer. The experiment was run a number of times with different teachers used each time. The teacher was told by the expert that he or she would be giving the learner a series of word pairs to learn, and when the learner got the word pairs wrong, the teacher was to press a button that would give an electric shock to the learner in increasingly higher voltage increments for each wrong answer, up to a maximum shock of 450 volts. The teacher thought real electric shocks would be given, but there was actually no live electrical current, and a pre-recorded tape recorder was played with corresponding sounds for each shock level. The learner would be in an adjoining room, able to be heard but not seen. The teacher was told in some of the cases that the learner had a heart condition.  When the voltage of the shocks given reached a certain point, the learner would start begging the teacher to stop by banging on the wall and then after that the learner would be silent. The different teachers taking part in the experiment showed varying responses to participating, some showing stress and laughing nervously, some questioning why the experiment was taking place, but most continued with the experiment when assured they would not be held responsible for any problems. If the teacher wanted to halt the experiment, the expert would say up to four different times in different preselected ways that the teacher must continue or that there was no other choice but to carry on, and some of the teachers did stop at this point. In some cases, and regardless of demands by the learner to stop, the teacher would carry on participating until the full 450 volt shock was given. In the first series of experiments, 65% of the teachers (26 out of 40 individuals) participated until the final 450 volt shock was given.

The Unemployment Dilemma

When I read articles about people living around us in poverty, I see the oft repeated refrain, "Go out and get a job!" from readers who comment at the end of the article. "Why do they expect to live off taxpayer money?", these readers mumble, disgruntlement a theme running down the course of the page.  I wonder, have any of the readers who judge others so harshly tried to find a job themselves after month after month of unemployment? Jobs can be hard to come by, especially in a climate of downsizing and companies only hiring based on ensuring the best employee to job match.

Imagine, as an example, that you are someone who has worked for the same company for twenty years. You love your job and the people you work with, and when you get into the office in the morning it feels as if you have walked into your second home. You do a great job and receive great customer feedback and if anyone is unsure of long forgotten business rules, they know they can ask you for assistance.

Unexpectedly your manager calls you into a meeting one day and tells you that the company is downsizing and that you may lose your job. You stare at him, aghast. But, we hired three new students last week, you stammer. Unfortunately we didn't foresee the difficulty the company has encountered since then, he stares at you bleakly, almost ashamedly. Your trust in the people who you saw almost as family is shattered.

Where Did the Excited Fireman Go?

Imagine the following scenario:

You are five years old. You have watched an exciting tale about firemen dousing a house aflame and you rush through your house to find your mom.

"Mom, I want to be a fireman!" you yell, gripped with excitement.

Your mom stares at you, her eyes widening slightly. "Josh, that's really dangerous. Why don't you think about being a vet instead? You love animals, don't you?"

"But mom, firemen have the coolest uniforms and they are heroes! There was smoke and orange fire and these firemen used an enormous hose of water and put it out and they rescued a family!"

"Let's talk about it later", she says distractedly. You watch her turn away.

A small inner part of you crumbles. You are five years old and your mom's opinion means the world to you. 

Many years later, when you are eighteen years old, your mother wonders why you lack direction and inner resolve. "Josh, make a decision", she sighs in frustration, when you ponder your subject selection day after day for your remaining years of school She wonders why you seem unmotivated by life. She forgets the many times you found something you were passionate about throughout your childhood, only to have your excitement dashed by her quick frown and quiet disagreement. Even though you were so excited about being a firemen at the age of five, you may never have become a fireman. And now you lack a sense of identity and don't know who you really are or what you could be. Your mom doesn't realise the impact her disapproval has had on your life.

Allow your children space to search out their own sense of identity while they are developing their fragile sense of self. Allow people around you to be who they are. You would want the same respect for yourself, wouldn't you?

Our Beliefs Are Our Reality

Have you considered how we may often make a stand on a topic over which we may have no concrete proof? Our beliefs become our reality.

As an example, I have debated evolution versus creationism in the past with some people. I was someone who grew up learning about evolution in school, and it made sense to me. And then I walked into a Bible study where this was the topic under discussion for the evening and even though at the time I said I don't know how God created the world, and maybe He used what looks like evolution, I realised in the ensuing weeks that my beliefs had changed, and I now firmly believe in creationism, and I leave the details to God. But consider, the way the world was formed did not change, only my beliefs changed. I am not saying you must doubt your beliefs, but I am trying to show that you should not argue with someone and say he or she is wrong, when that person is just as right in his or her own mind. Such a stance will cause division. State your case with full conviction as to your beliefs, and allow someone else his or her own viewpoint, and try to understand why the person sees this way through his or her lenses of perception. But, you are entitled to believe you are right! Or, what do you think?...

Don't Take Constant Friends For Granted

Have you ever had a friend, or thought you did, where you both seemed to be good friends and where you seem to connect easily? When you get together, you both chat amicably and conversation flows. Or is this merely your perception of events, because you notice that she has become somewhat reticent in the weeks between your meetings? She only responds selectively to your phone calls or messages and when you ask her about it when you see her next, she says she loves to hear from you, but she gets so busy in her day to day schedule that she forgets to respond, and to please not take it personally. She gives you a little hug and a huge beaming grin on parting and she says we must do coffee again soon. You go home with a glow of happy feeling that you have a friend who is really there for you. Consider, perhaps she feels the same on her side, secure that you are always there for her, as you always drop what you are doing when she calls and rush over for a visit. You never say no when she wants to meet, as you always have time for this friend. Does she see you as a valuable friend, or are you the friend she takes for granted, as she is so secure in the knowledge that you are there for her, that losing your friendship is not a possibility? Does she know you have started to wonder at her half-hearted responses? Does she know you have begun to feel she must be humouring you as a friend? Does she care? Maybe, you think, it's best to contact someone else for coffee and a chat next time and leave her be. Trust dashed hurts.

I once did an exercise in a group at a particular training course where each of us was asked to draw our support network as round bubbles on a piece of paper. This exercise was harder to complete than I thought it would be, and some of us struggled to draw even the first few bubbles, whilst others drew frantically from the start. We drew a bubble to represent ourselves, and then we drew individuals we knew as bubbles next to us, close if they were part of our inner circle, and further away if we considered them to be more distant in our relationships. If they were really close to us, like husbands or wives, the bubbles could overlap to show how enmeshed our lives were. We were told to make the size of the bubbles representative of the size of the relationship, so friends who we thought of as very close and important friends, we drew bigger than other people. Perhaps try this exercise sometime yourself. It is a useful exercise to see at a glance a map of your support network, and perhaps it may jog some valuable pointers for you to take into account in your relationships.

Ask yourself: Who forms your support network? Who are your constant friends? Are you spending time with each person? Do you value them and do they know this? Who do you take for granted? What could you change to allow for more meaningful and healthy relationships?