Friday, September 02, 2016

LIVING WITH THE WHOLE WORLD IN MIND

I think, I believe, that fundamentally the entire world populace is stuck.  From the powerful to the influential to the casual to the neglected, it seems to me that the fascination of personal value has been lost in the grand sea of trying to get ahead while we become further behind.  In a blink one can become egotistical in self-praising assessment or depressed in self-loathing failure. Both are dead-end alleys.

Full and profound satisfaction in getting to be us is noted within the setting of being attentive to others.  When in a group around coffee, are we truly interested in the one talking?  Or, are we wishing they'd finish their story so you might inject yours?  I think one of the coolest things about the Coffee Shop experience is simply the gathering of any who note the others as significant and valued.

Be encouraged to lift your eyes to see the entire world.  Life isn't about self.  Life is about self learning to die so that it can return to a new kind of living....which is absolutely outward and necessarily not inward.  We can make a difference and this is God's call to each of us.

So how do we recover from what ails us?  Jesus is very frank.  As we take care of others, we find ourselves healed.  This isn't churchy.  This is life.

Man continues to shoot himself in the foot by living most waking moments discerning whether he is noticed; loved, appreciated, respected.  Misery is galore due to such persistent threads of concentration.  The truly happy in any community are those who want to lift the spirits of others.

And just who would fit the latter category?  The.  Entire.  World.  So the good news is that we have great work to do.  Last night, in the simplicity of watching television I was exchanging texts with a U.S. Congressman, a prisoner, and a missionary in Korea.  All three have the very same need; they are frail people who doubt themselves at oh-so-many turns.  Ours is the calling to reach to the whole world and shout to the mountains how special they are.

Whether appearing at the top or the bottom of the accomplishment scale, man is all the same.....insecure.  I ought to know.  Insecurity is my stage.  But God said this thing in II Corinthians 12:9 regarding power is perfected in weeknesss.  You, my friend, have the power to reach the whole world due to your lack; not because of your accomplishments.

And, yes, you probably noted that I misspelled weaknesss.  I just wanted to.  And, yes, I ended the last sentence with a preposition.  That was to irritate the grammar teachers.

Hey....reach farther.  Good people are waiting to find someone....just one someone...that notices just how special they are.  The whole world needs our cheerful voices of hope.  We.  Can.  Do.  This.

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