October 4, 2013

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  James 2:8 (NIV)*

It is a sad weakness in us, after all, that the thought of a man's death hallows him anew to us; as if life were not sacred too,—as if it were comparatively a light thing to fail in love and reverence to the brother who has to climb the whole toilsome steep with us, and all our tears and tenderness were due to the one who is spared that hard journey.
George Eliott (1819-1880, English novelist, journalist and translator)*

Not trying to be morose or morbid, but for a few seconds, imagine your life without that spouse you yelled at last night.  Think about the pain you would feel if something tragic happened to your teenage son who is driving you up the wall.  Stop and think about how much you will miss your nagging parents after they are gone.  Really try to feel the emptiness, hurt and sadness.  

As George Eliott points out we seem to honor, salute and canonize those who have passed, but treat those same people with disrespect, disregard and dishonor when they are with us.  If you are guilty of this, as I know I am, STOP!  Treat that family member or coworker with the same honor and respect you would if he or she had passed away.

Few people would ever go around complaining about a person laying in a coffin.  Gossip about a dead person? Ghastly!  Criticize a corpse?  Surely not.  

Don't save those kind words for a eulogy.  Heap compliments on the living.  Celebrate those who are still with us.

*Daily Strength for Daily Needs- February 15
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8534/pg8534.html