I have felt very frustrated lately that we live in a society which has created rich and poor and that we are fearful to help one another. I am frustrated that I have participated in the perpetuation of this mentality. For example...I saw a man on the side of the freeway the other day who needed a ride. Honestly, I wanted to pull over and give him a ride. But, but, but...I was afraid. What if he tried to harm me or steal from me or...you understand. I didn't stop but I pondered...that man is a child of God. God has a plan for him. God loves him. He is my brother. Somehow he has found himself in a situation in which he needs a ride somewhere. It may not be his fault at all that he is where is he. And then, again, it may be entirely his fault. Should that matter?
When I was growing up, we were so poor and our car was often out of gas or broken down, or even more, sometimes we didn't even have a car. Sometimes we needed a ride. We weren't bad people. My mom wasn't a great sinner who had a knife hidden in her purse or would have begged for more and more and more. We just needed a ride sometimes.
I hate that I feel afraid to help some of our Father's children who are in need. I know, I know, I don't want a single comment about how we need to be careful because there are bad people out there. But I honestly think those people are few and far between. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that some people should not be helped because of how they look or the type of help they are requesting or whatever the case may be.
Some of our brothers and sisters have found themselves in messy situations that may cause us to have to roll up our prideful shirt sleeves and dig into their deep sadness more than we have done for others. It might make us feel uncomfortable sometimes and this might very well be a prompting to stay away but I'm thinking most often it isn't. Fear is not from our Father in Heaven. If we are feeling afraid of someone, could it be that those feelings are coming from someone else?
It is going to take courage to root this mentality out of my heart. It is going to take prayer and sacrifice and determination and a willingness to do what is hard and it is going to take time. It is going to require that I grow even closer to our Savior so that I can see others through His loving eyes. Then I can see them through the lens of an eternal perspective - we are all eternal beings, no matter our earthly situation. This life is not all there is and who we are here is not the only part of our being. There is so much more to each of us.
We are not body's with a spirit. We are spirits with a body - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US!
I struggle with this as well. I want to help, but there are so many wicked and evil people around today that you have to be very discerning regarding who you help and when. Especially when you are alone with your kids. Your children's safety always has to be first. But then you want to show them a good example of serving others too. It can be quite difficult!
ReplyDeleteWe've discussed this in our family councils and have developed several "plans of attack" for which situations we will help with and which situations we will telephone for someone else to help. It's helped to talk it over with our kids and between the couple.