The Universal, Portable Rule

Do to others as you were the others - Unknown

The "golden rule" as Matthew 7:12 has become better known as is a lot more challenging than we often think of it as being. It is probably one of the verses that every child learns when they go to Sunday School or even Vacation/Holiday Bible School. Kids are instructed and encouraged to play fair with one another, including sharing and treating each other with respect. It can be challenging for them to apply the verse because of their lack of maturity. So that is an excuse for a youth...what's an adult's excuse?

When adults are reading this rule, do we think to apply it or brush it off? Have you ever thrown out the excuse of "That's the way I was treated, so evidently I can treat them the same way"? Justifying yourself being on the back end of the verse, not the front end? I have been guilty of this...and when you look back on it, it is immaturity shining forth.

As we reflect on the verse for a moment, here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• Analyze ~ Look over your life, probably the immediate life - past week or two - and see what kind of treatment have you been demonstrating? Have you been applying this rule? Have you been leaving it behind, so as to excuse yourself from obeying it? Why have you been guilty of doing such a thing? Maybe it is because you lost track of its universal application. Maybe it is because you just didn't want to obey it? There are probably other reasons you can come up with. However, we must analyze to realize where we are in the following of this rule.
• Take It With You~ When you grow up and move out of the house it is usually known that you do not have to live by your parents rules anymore. You are now an adult. However, when it comes to the "golden rule" you are never too old to have this apply to you. Also, you never are too far away that you are exempt from this rule. It is something that you must live by wherever you go and whoever you're with.
• Utilize It ~ Do you feel the need to complain about someone's effort in their profession? Do you feel the need to "express yourself" by putting a negative comment about someone on Facebook or some other social media medium? Do you feel the need to pick on (physically) another person? Do you feel the need to take out your aggression toward someone or a situation with violence? The big questions are...What do they accomplish?...&...Do they really make things better - even if you may feel better afterward? Think about this sentence I recently read in a book..."Think about what others ought to be like, then start being that yourself." If you start out a sentence something like "I probably shouldn't be telling you this," you'd better stop, because you shouldn't. We must think to ourselves how one must feel if the situations were reversed. Use the rule!
• Apply It Everywhere ~ "All men are created equal" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" are two important points to think about when we are thinking about who we should apply it toward...everyone and everywhere!

The "golden rule" is more than golden...platinum? However, it is universal, in that it applies to all mankind. And it is portable, in that you take it wherever you go.

May we take advantage of what impact the "universal, portable rule" plays on our life and start living it out!

Being Nice to Your N—uh—Me

You have to be phonetical with the last word…it is “enemy.” I just needed it to start with “n.”

A few days ago I had a friend who was having a difficult time due to some “negative nellys” where he works. It isn’t the most fun to be in a leadership position. It seems that some times people are only in your life to torment you. They may not even realize that they are doing that. It may just be in their nature. 

Things have since calmed down, for now. However, there is always a possibility that things may flare up again…something leadership never looks forward to!

One of the things he did, which they didn’t like, was to be kind to them. This brings us to this week’s quote, dedicated to one of my best friends…

Love your enemies, they hate it.  ~ Unknown quote, reference is from Matthew 5:44

I have been the one who did this. It is almost fun to do. People do not like you in one area or another, or you’ve just made them upset for something. Either way, your kindness just aggravates them to the point that they just hate your “love” and “kindness.

As one similar philosophy that I’ve lived by for years says, “Kill ‘em with kindness.” When someone is doing things to you which is causing friction, just be overly nice to them and set them go down with good news!
May we all be nice to our enemies! If they’re going to go down, make sure it is with good news, not with put downs!

Cheer Someone On!

Last week was "Random Acts of Kindness" week, where it was suggested to do something random for someone to be generous and kind.  I think those kinds of reminders are good, as we need to remember to cheer people on for doing good things or, simply, for the normally unrecognized things they do.

I bet you know of several people in your community that normally go unthanked.  What normally happens, is that they go through their professional job being criticized.  Leaders often fall into this category.  There is still another group, the "menial".  The ones who do the little jobs, whether they're paid to do it or not.  They do it week after week without ever receiving much of anything.  Maybe they have a certain day for thanks, like Secretary's Day.  Even Clergy Appreciation Month often goes unnoticed.  Why not just tell some people thanks for what they do, once in a while.  That brings us to this week's text...

It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, and the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it.  ~ Vince Lombardi

Long-time football coach, Vince Lombardi, surely came across a lot of people who needed to be "cheered on".  Lots of people that he worked with and worked "under" him were doing several great things, sometimes making him look even better.  I hope he lived up to the quote.  I hope he was a cheerer of others.

May you use some of your vocabulary each week to cheer people on, to recognize the people who step up to challenges.  Even if you cheer some people on, find someone else to cheer on!

Go get 'em!

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Receiving More than You Give

 When you're a kid and you are fed with the line "it is better to give than to receive" it may make you roll your eyes or something like that.  At that stage in your life you tend to want things and that is all you care about...What's in it for me?  I remember not being too willing to help out or go with my mom to the nursing home to visit a lady.  Those weren't fun, they didn't make a difference in my day or life.  

However, something changed when I got a little bit older.  Thinking back, as I write this, one of the memorable times was having a "little brother" through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.  I was a freshman in college and I don't know what prompted me to do it.  Sometimes it was difficult finding 3 hours a week to spend with him.  However, most of the time we spent together was very enjoyable and definitely rewarding.  That brings us to this week's quote...

Love and kindness are never wasted.  They always make a difference.  They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.  ~ Barbara De Angelis

One particular moment I remember with my "little brother" was when I had taken him to a college football game I was working as a student trainer.  It was probably one of the rainiest nights I had ever been in where I had to be outside.  As the football field slopes, the sidelines had, literally, ankle deep water.  Plus, it was a natural field, so there was a lot of mud.  My "little brother" lived outside the city limits and I had not been to his house (I picked him up in town).  So, being nervous about getting stuck, I wondered if he could stay in my dorm room for the night.  All permissions were granted and he had his first experience of college life as an eleven-year old!

Maybe you've had numerous opportunities to give of yourself (time, money, etc.) where you've finished the experience feeling like you received more than the receiver received.  That is the beauty of doing things like that.  From a religious perspective, serving God is much the same way.  You give to Him and what you get is sometimes exponentially more than what you gave.

Keep giving and cashing in on the experiences!




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Don't Miss the Opportunity

The first part of this week was a lot of fun! It started off by going to five different campuses to pray for the students and teachers in our congregation. What better way to start off a school year than to pray over our students and teachers? We also prayed for the school and staff, etc. It was followed by a fun get-together. It really pumped me up for the week.

Then, on Tuesday, our church had the opportunity to be apart of a 'welcome back' day with the local community college. We had free packs of gum with a website to visit and a "mega" movie basket to give away to one lucky winner. The basket really caught the attention of those passing by!

Both of these situations could be identified as "opportunities". They were opportunities to ask God to be with our students and teachers as they start their school year and to expose ourself to the college students. They were not something we had to do, they were something we chose to do...and boy, am I glad we did. Speaking of 'opportunities' that brings us to this week's quote...

Opportunities are like sunrises - if you wait too long, you miss
them. ~William Arthur Ward

Though the first 'activity' was an 'inreach' activity, meaning that it specifically centered on our church people, the second was 'outreach'. I was blown away at how many kids seemed interested in needing a place to go to church. They wanted to know where we were, and I fully believe they were sincere (I am not saying they will all come our way).

What would have happened if we didn't go out there and spend about 3 hours of our time (not counting all the prep we did)? Would the kids have thumbed through the yellow pages looking for 'us'? Probably not very many, if any. However, the fact that we took the opportunity to go to their campus and meet us in an informal manner, may make a big difference. If not right now, who knows what the future will hold, after the seed has been planted.

Take opportunities...they're not here for very long! Just like a sunrise!

Take opportunities...
- to smile
- to say hi
- to open a door
- to welcome a newcomer
- to leave a big tip
- to leave a kind note
- to say "I love you"
- to compliment
- to shake a hand
- to hug a neck
- to write a nice card
- to be appreciative
- to be kind
- to play with your kids
- to tell your spouse how beautiful/handsome they are
- to send a text of kindness or appreciation
- to leave a comment on this post with more suggestions

Don't waste them...they're gone in a bit...don't wait too long!

Learning to take each and every opportunity...