After reading one of Henri Nouwen's books where he promotes choosing a prayer you can incorporate into your daily life by repeating the words openly and to yourself, I have also been trying to make a concerted effort to read the daily scripture housed on a website that I found. Yesterday's message is from the Good Samaritan parable. It's one of my favourites and it's one that resonates with me.
Go and do likewise..........................
It's the story that broadens our way of looking at who our "neighbour" is. Suffering occurs all around us...........we are responsible for those who suffer. As God reaches out to us, we must be cognizant of reaching out to others as well. We can only do that if we remain openly receptive to seeing those in need. Gotta have your eyes and ears open.
Go and do likewise..........................
It's the story that broadens our way of looking at who our "neighbour" is. Suffering occurs all around us...........we are responsible for those who suffer. As God reaches out to us, we must be cognizant of reaching out to others as well. We can only do that if we remain openly receptive to seeing those in need. Gotta have your eyes and ears open.
Awareness.............Go and do likewise................
The fascinating aspect of helping others is that it is always a lesson in humility. Our problems melt away ........ diminish .......... when our focus is on our neighbour. It's so easy to keep our head in the sand, to twiddle our thumbs perseverating over our own woes, or to let judgemental opinions of someone elses situation stop us in our tracks. The problem is that by avoiding our role as a good neighbour, we may have missed out on an opportunity to experience a moment of intimate grace. An encounter with God.
No one is better than anyone else. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Everyone is a neighbour.
Go and do likewise....................
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"”
Martin Luther King
10 comments:
What a great idea to read each and every day. It is amazing how something can become a regular part of our lives if we just do it.
This was how walking was for me 15 years ago. I still, today, walk each and every day, no matter what.
Enjoy your new venture!
Thanks Barbara.........and now for the walking........gotta do that too! Maybe the key is to multitask....print off the scripture and go for a walk!!
thanks for the thought today.....looking for every opportunity to 'go and do likewise'
As trying as my day was today, I noticed that an older gentleman was doing just as you said, helping a total stranger (me), and putting forth his "go and do likewise" as any good neighbor would.
It took me reading here to realize that no matter how bad one's day goes, the silver linings fall in the fact that there is always one other person around to pick up the pieces. It was nice to see how that one person today made all the difference between a bad day and a disasterous one. It is now up to me to carry on and pay it forward, and I will do just that. Of course I had to wash the day off first... but I will be on duty tomorrow.
Thanks for the reminder!
funny i took a school lesson on the good samaritan today. we looked at the who the jew and samaritan equivalent would be today - when i told them it would be a palestinian helping a Israeli there was a silence whilst brains and hearts tried to process it...
...i still am trying to...
It is interesting that you wrote about this today because I've been wrapped up in this "go and do likewise" saga. The man who risked his life to warn and stop a train from running into a stalled heavy equipment truck on the tracks has gone and done likewise. He saved a train full of people including my ten year old son from what could have been a disaster. He has won a good samaritan award so now I will try to pay it forward to show my true gratitude and appreciation.
It's so hard to live life in the media...now I know how Jennifer Lopez and Brad Pitt feel!!!!!!
Hi Julie...bon chance looking for those opportunities.....most times they find us if we're out and about.
Hi Ellen....I was thinking that the man who helped you "fit the bill," when I read your post from yesterday. And you're right about silver linings. Sometimes they are clearly evident, and othertimes, well.....it takes a little distance from an event to see things from a different perspective in order to find the silver lining. The other silver lining from your story? That you had an unusual day and a place to write the story :)
Hi Harbour. I had an automatic yes happen in my head when I read your answer......... Do you think sometimes we ruminate too long before answering, and that perhaps some of our best answers arrive before we are even ready with the denouement explanation?
Good on ya to provide food for thought.
Sunny! I read your blog (everyone go read the story Sunny posted on her blog) and heard you on the radio. I'm sure you're still buzzing inside after learning how close things came with your son and his Nan on that train.
Excellent post...then again, you like Gordon Lightfoot so I should have expected it...
Arlen......Great name!! I'm glad you enjoyed reading this post. I do believe if we as a society are going to move away from the apathy that I believe our society suffers from, we must start with one good turn after another.
The song that comes to mind (though it's not a Lightfoot song....which BTW I was listening to in my office this morning for the first time in a very long time:).......is that hymn.....
"This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine".........do you know that one?
Ilearned that song in Sunday School when I was about 5...pleasant memories...
Post a Comment