A couple of quotes that I’ve had lying around for a while seemed to jump out at me this morning…
“If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up not doing anything for anybody.” (Malcolm Bane)
and
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” —Ronald Reagan
Be the somebody who helps somebody else today. The who is unimportant. The how is unimportant. The what is unimportant. It’s the doing that’s important. The need is all around you.
Don’t just say that you’d like to help. Opening your wallet to help is good; but, opening your eyes and heart and jumping in to actually do something is better. By your actions, those in need shall know that you are a Christian. By your actions, you shall know that you are a Christian. By your actions, Jesus shall know that you are a Christian.
In James 2: 14-17 we read – “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Edgar Guest out it this way – “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” Let the world see your sermon in the good works that you do for others.
Be a sermon this weekend. Find a need and fill it. Find someone wanting and be their giver. Do something for someone.
Can I get an Amen to that?
Posted by Norm Werner 
I suspect that you will begin to realize that those who made a lasting impression upon you were those who took the time to interact with you, to greet you and to listen to you when you spoke. That is normally an interaction with more content to it than just a cursory “Hi, how ya doing?” exchange as you passed. The second quote comes into play at the point when you realize that what matters to you is your interaction with others that you meet. If you place your relationships with others above your pursuit of money or things, you will find that you matter to them, too.
that matter. You are more likely to have a list of things that you want to do for others and priorities based upon loving, sharing and helping.
more modern terms it would be WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get.
ective of that statement. Ask yourself in whose eyes are you judging your worthiness? Then take the time to recall that you are so worthy in God’s eye that He gave his only son to atone for your sins and to save you. That should make you feel worthy in any situation and free you to live a WYSIWYG life. If you can do that, the next step of accepting others as they are is easy.
living in the most natural state of human rights. Anywhere else, where people are given, or have free access to, things above the subsistence level by the society they live in, is an example of privileges being extended by that society and not examples of people having rights to those things.
One can get in the right frame of mind about life by starting each day with a little “thank you” prayer to God for allowing you to awaken to another day. You weren’t even entitled to that day, so right away you have been given a gift to enjoy. Everything beyond that is just something that you should enjoy and be thankful for having. So, take the advice from today’s quote and make the best of everything that you have; rather than spend your time and energy worrying about things that you don’t have. God has just given you the most precious thing that money can’t buy and which isn’t a right – time. Use your time today wisely; be thankful and happy and make the best of what you have.
chasing, some other shiny thing catches our attention and off we go again. Most people will probably admit that getting the thing of our desires was not as satisfactory as they thought that it might be. In fact, quite often, they will say that the pursuit was the real satisfying part. But, is the pursuit of material things that we don’t really care about once that are obtained really a good use of our time?
feel better? We have a little saying in the ELCA church that is used in many churches – “God’s work, our hands.” The real significance of that saying is that, by doing those things that need to be done in your community to help others, you bring yourself closer to God by becoming the hands through which He achieves his miraculous work. This world that we live in is the job site and God is the site manager, doling out the jobs that need to be done and helping direct their accomplishment. You can’t find a better boss to work for and the benefits are great, both now and later.
based upon careful listening. It would seem that many of the problems in politics today could be attributed to the two main sides not taking time to listen to the other. In our daily lives we encounter many opportunities to listen to others; but, how many of us really put the effort into listening, rather than getting ready for the next things that we want to say?
invitation to a conversation and an expression of concern and care about that person. That conversation will deserve a good listener and there will be therapeutic value in the attention that you pay to the other party. They may rally need to share with someone who is willing to listen.
really listening to you or just thinking about their next opportunity to speak. You can see their lack of eye contact or the expression on their face. It’s that look of, “Oh God, I really didn’t want to hear about your problems; I’ve got problems of my own.” Good listeners will be paying close attention to your words and may interject some words of encouragement or understanding as you speak. Good listeners may also ask questions about the topic that you were expounding upon, because they are processing the information and want to learn more about it.
Are you a good listener? Do you commit to listen when engaging others in conversation or do you just do join the conversation so that you can interject your point of view without real regard for their position? That is the unfortunate situation in the political environment in our county today. The Bible has this to say about those who do not listen, but only want to talk. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” – Proverbs 18:2.
go every day and then too busy to go 3 times a week and now I really have to make a special effort to go twice a week.
the practice of it in our daily lives can become victims of life’s changes and distractions, if we don’t make a special effort to recognize God as the central constant in our lives. For most that means taking time out once a week to attend church.
baseball or other sports (hockey in the winter) that are now played or practiced on Sunday mornings. One could hope that somehow the families involved took time later in the day to home school their children on the importance of God and religion in their lives, but I suspect that is more of a dream than a real hope.
you have a job to do just being the best you that you can be, because it has an impact on those around you. If you can be happy and upbeat, you will help those around you have a better attitude, too. It’s also important that you not waste time trying to be someone else or what you think someone else wants you to be. Let them be them and you be you; it’s what you have to do.
say “How do you do” and appreciate that there’s no one Youer than you.
contact with someone and they look away or choose not to even acknowledge that they see us with a little smile or a nod, perhaps even a quick “hello, how are you”.
someone else that you can say “Hi” to and you too will become unforgettable. Just remember that when you are not making that effort you may become unforgettable in a bad way and be considered to be aloof and unapproachable, or worse. I certainly don’t want to be unforgettable in that way. Do you?
or try that new sport because we don’t know enough about them and fear the consequences of those unknowns.
encounter in life; however, our imaginations at too often limited by our understanding of the physical world around us and the knowledge that we might have accumulated in life. We tend to frame things, including our ability to imagine life after death in very restrictive human terms. Some religions have very elaborate descriptions of life after death that imagine things almost completely in normal human terms. Other religions define the afterlife in terms that not even they understand. Even Christian religion uses descriptions of the afterlife in heaven that the common man might relate to – a “house with many rooms”; however, it is also alluded to a “peace that passes all understanding”.
of a tunnel. We do all that we can to imagine it as something warm and bright and comfortable, because we are trying to overcome our fear of the unknown. If any and all of that makes you feel better about it, imagine away; however, know that it is your faith that there is a life after death, that you will be with Jesus in His Father’s House and that your earthly fears and concerns and pains will all drop away.
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