R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts
"First find a path, and a little light to see by. Then push up your sleeves and start helping." ~ Anne Lamott in Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
As anyone who has been reading this blog knows, I just returned from a trip to an international Christian Conference held every year at Pepperdine University. I always return from this gathering energized to do my part in helping. The very cool thing about this conference is that there are "helpers" everywhere! The first night a couple from Africa was honored for their work teaching in Africa. They have been bringing hope to their home country through a school they have operated there for over 30 years. Another couple has spent decades in Japan reaching out to the hopeless there; a young man I met on a bus is part of a group who rescues preteen 'street boys' in Uganda and gives them a place to live, food to eat and training in a career; a group of law students is volunteering in Uganda helping to digitalize the mountains of documents that might cast some light on cases where people have been in jail for years or decades waiting to be charged with a crime; a woman is trying to give comfort to others who are mourning a child who has committed suicide; teenagers are collecting money to buy mosquito nets to prevent malaria; people are helping through educating others about overcoming addictions or encouraging children or assisting young un-wed mothers, or creating racial harmony or strengthening families and dozens more examples of people "pushing up their sleeves and helping." Each one of us is gifted to help someone else. Only when we do will we be truly fulfilled. We were created to help others. The 'good life' - the abundant life - has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with helping. It has everything to do with sharing encouragement. We can all do that. Let's all decide today to find at least one person to personally help. Maybe it's just asking a newly divorced woman to go get coffee. Maybe it's helping a young mother get her kids across the parking lot. Maybe it's being gentle with the check-out clerk at the grocery store. Find your own niche. Let's all be extravagant helpers today, and see how we feel at the end of the day!
"Tell those rich in this world's wealth (all of us reading this on a computer) to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever imagine--to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life." I Timothy 6:17-19 (The Message)
