Don't Just Do Something. Stand There!

JUST BE THERE!!

We must think of every human being as 'the walking wounded', but we are not to think of how we must fix them.

Our fixing is already underway when we greet a stranger, or show up in a hospital room. But we leave the fixing to God. It is enough to stand there in love. We do not have to do much more than that.

God surrounds us with His Presence. God is healing us every moment. And that is where we must be. Present! With people! We greet them. We touch them. We smile at them, listen to them, walk with them. We weep with those who weep. But there is STILL a little more we can do, while we leave the fixing to God.

In a Peanuts cartoon Charlie Brown asks Lucy: "Do pretty girls know they are pretty?"

Says Lucy:"Only if somebody tells them,"

It's a metaphor about life in general.

A compliment to a pretty girl makes HER even prettier. Kind words are like vitamins. They nourish the spirit. A nourished spirit makes the body healthier and inspires persons to their own good deeds. Care and kindness is a brilliant way to create an ever-expanding chain of goodwill spreading like a prairie fire across the world, creating a wonderful form of global warming.

What does the Lord require of you? "To act justly. To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God," says Micah 6:8. Here is another biblical teaching slightly embellished: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows (and strangers, geeks, teenagers, sick people, the walking wounded, the grieving and everybody else struggling, hurting and handicapped).”

We can encourage them, appreciate them, inspire them with loving words, smiles, and compliments and general friendliness.

But leave the fixing to God.