If I am ever in a position to make even $1 million, I pray I will still have enough of a compassionate spirit embedded in my soul to reach out and touch someone – and make their world a better place, in any way I can.
I work for NYC HRA, so sometimes I have occasion to be on the receiving end of someone else’s anger because they “don’t believe” or “can’t see how” “you people” (aka the agency) are doing anything to help me,” because they feel that they have been slighted in receiving their fair share of the financial pie, and whatsoever they do to restore and retain it is justifiable. That is oh so not true. It is all too easy to believe that untruth, because a lot of time, we are not looking at life through spiritual eyes. We are looking at the world through the teary-eyed delusion of lust and the wanton spirit of greed. Worst yet, we believe that if we are willing to run the gamut on misdeeds and misgivings to get something, we feel that everyone else should be willing to do the same thing. So many people are selling their soul to the devil for the company store in hopes of gaining a new lease on the life out of which they believe they have been cheated.
There are people who will work two jobs, put in sixteen-hour work days, lie and cheat every dog and cat, and swindle – if they must – to achieve that invisible dream, but the one thing that God has ordained that they do, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’… (Deut. 15:11 NASB) they reject in utmost sincerity. Talk about a demented state of mind.
It is all too easy for us to become self-righteous and judgmental, when we perceive ourselves to be in a higher echelon of society over the person in need. However, we don’t take it too kindly when the shoe is placed on the other foot, and we are being subjected to glaring stares and insipid remarks. We always have a “good reason” for being where we are, and when we have been blessed in abundance, we feel justified in going out and building bigger barns, because we feel that we “deserve” to keep it to ourselves because we have “earned” and/or “paid a price to get It,” etc.
According to my mother, “God isn’t going to judge you on what others did to you, he’s judging you on what you do to and for others, and he who know better should do better.”
Thank God for a mother like mine, and all the other many blessings that he has bestowed upon me. Thank God for little favors, also – for little IS much, when God is in the midst.
Lifeline of Hope 