when have you seen need?
If anyone is familiar with the life of St Francis of Assisi, they would know that he gave up everything to live in harmony with the poor. He embraced the leper, he seemed to feel a kinship with all creation. As a secular Franciscan myself, I too am encouraged to live a life of poverty chastity and obedience. Although I don't wear the habit of a nun, it is in today's society that I am called to witness to the glory of God. For me, to witness does NOT mean standing on street corners, in airports or go from door to door. It means to meet Christ and BE Christ-like in everyone and everything I see and do. To not pass judgment, to be gentle and hospitable, to be of service to any and all who are in need.
In need, now there is a strong statement. Today more than ever, folks are in need of each other. Today's technology has us as close as a text or instant message, yet we are so far apart. We can't grasp the needs of someone reaching out in loneliness. We hunger for the human touch, a word, softly spoken. We have cocooned ourselves to be in isolation. When was the last time you actually looked UP in a crowd and smiled at someone? When have you noticed someone in need of help and reached out, even if just to hold a door open?
As the new year approaches, we will take a look at need around and in our lives and what we can do to make it better for someone else! Stay tuned!
Has anyone else ever had a life that seemed so hopeless, try to do good and yet crap falls on you no matter what you do? 40 plus years this has happened to me, I try to be good, yet, shit happens. It's a good time, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd then out of nowhere, some sort of miracle happens, and all your shit turns to the right side and then there you are experiencing things that only happen to the "Good" people?
And now I fear all this goodness has some sort of price attached to it!? WTF do I do with a so called "Good Life"? Ah hell, have another beer, I suppose?
rob...I have followed your/reverend's blogs for awhile now...and have this to say: Price. Now there is a heavy word. yet why can't things just happen because now is finally YOUR time? You have a wife who understands you and a job...and you have this medium to share your life with us folks who can read about and learn from it. The past was just a challenge...it was experience, it was your chance to grow. The fact that you now have stability means that it is finally figured out for you...THIS is what life is meant to be like. Instead of fearing it...embrace it, man! Enjoy it! Don't wait for that other shoe to drop....because that other shoe fell so many years ago! The sun is shining for you, bro! Can you feel its warmth? I tell you, I have been there also--drank till my guts puked blood. I am almost died. Was told that excess is gonna kill me, so I lay off for awhile...but that bitch alcohol always comes calling and at all the wrong times it seems. Lost a job? drink some booze! Lost your woman? Drink some boze! Can't get IT up anymore? Drink!!! and so many other reasons that always call me back! I am 56 years old now. Seen things and done things I hope to never see again...but what I learned, rob...I can't put a price on. Go on now, love your woman...treat her right and know, your life is exactly where it is meant to be!
ReplyDeleterob...go back and read this post.....maybe you now have good things happen because you are now in a position to appreciate it..to be able to deal with it and to continue the good things that have happened to you on to others. we All learn from and by experience. Do you know that if every single time, a baby fell down--or tried to anyway and we always prevented it from happening, that baby would never learn what it means to get up and walk. It would never know what pain and frustration felt like, it would basically be an imbecile, devoid of movement, desire or feeling. Regardless of what has happened in your world, be it alcoholism or whatever, you learned from the things--good or bad---that have happened t you. Was it hellish? yes it probably was! But now you are seeing the true beauty in life! wow!!! and as you have said...for anyone to judge another as they are making those mistakes is wrong! We all need to make those mistakes...how else do we become experts at knowing right from wrong? How else do we develop a conscience? why, it's from what we see and experience around us!!! Good luck to you!!!
ReplyDeleteA miracle! rob you are a lucky man! Why question what comes to you as good? Accept it and rejoice! You have found favor with God to be the recipient of something so wonderful! You are not a castaway from society....society has chosen to place you in that category. You are a child of God...and as such, you are deserving of all good things!
ReplyDeleterob, would you have appreciated what a miracle was had it happened years ago? Maybe not...a miracle wasted! Now you can..and should! I saw a show today where it said we need to appreciate and love people right where they are!!! So rob...I say to you, you are loved and appreciated...by many!
ReplyDeleteWow yet again!
ReplyDeleteI was up dark and early this morning and while sucking down the pot of coffee it takes me to be awake, I was reading this page. "Been There, Thats Why Im Here" was the only return here at the time, and I bet I read my post then his post for at least 45 minutes, pausing and thinking between trips to the coffee pot and biffy. Would you believe that simple thought has never really entered my mind? Then I spent 10 hours on the road, 2 hours parked and waiting for my hookup to show up, and did much more pondering and thinking. And drinking coffee! Maybe I have finally paid all the dues that I owe, with some heavy interest!
Then I come home after another 580 mile trip dodging drivers on their cell phones, and 3 more replys saying the same thing. I have discovered, through the Revs' site here, I really am not alone! There are so many others out there who live in their own hell, it humbles me. A Reverand Kory (RIGHT NAME?) posted a kind statement a few days back, and I told him I shall forgive all the "Perfect" people out there who look down upon us. I saw a post on todays blog by someone who is so high and mighty with no soul that I wanted to throw back at that person (another anonomouse - chicken shit nameless) but I realize, they will burn in their own hell eventually, so I forgive them. For the most part anyway!
I just wanted to thank you all for your support and let you know it is appreciated.
rob- I have read your book on Kindle and was thoroughly amazed by it. Yes you have paid your dues and then some. So enjoy your life now. If happiness HAS FOUND YOU, WHY DOUBT IT? IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE BY YOUR SIDE WHO LOVES YOU, APPRECIATE HER! IF THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO STILL HAVE THEIR OWN NEGATIVE THOUGHTS ABOUT YOU, MAYBE IT ISN'T really about you...it"s about them! Think about it...we are all mirror images of each other. What we hate about someone else is what we DO NOT WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE ABOUT OURSELVES! So, if you can see beyond the pain of your past, you obviously love yourself to get over it. Thanks for being the you that can inspire others.
ReplyDeleteHoly Mackeral - you people who understand reality are amazing! Why can't the "perfect" people see life as it is?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Johnny!
rob, another new years is coming up, another reason to party hearty! Except that was my life so long ago. Now I just drink because it's there. I start the day with a drink and I go to bed drunk. I have lived this life longer than I care to admit, except that this time I am one step away from being homeless. I live with my son who is tired of seeing empty beer cans all over. He pays my bills because I was fired from my last job for showing up drunk. and the job before that...and before that. No one wants to hire me now and I have no way to get there anyway...too many DWI's. Hey, if you have someone to care for you, you had better not fuck it up! Is my son in need of having me around? Hell no! Am I in need of him? Fuck yeah! I try...God knows I try. But after many failed treatments it looks like I am a career fuck up. Sorry for the strong language Reverend, but I am just venting here. I thank God for the little I do have. But I always find a way to mess up life. I hope the new year is kind to folks like us...maybe give us a break now and again. What I am also for is just a little understanding from people. You don't have to approve of my lifestyle...but you don't need to judge it either.
ReplyDeleteAndy W -
ReplyDeleteHeres a tilt of the cans, glasses and bottles to the New Year! Whoof dah, Andy. Your story here reminds me so much of my uncle, Bones. I grew up with my uncle Bones. He taught me many of lifes lessons, to ride a bike, to help others, to bait a hook and clean the fish, to not look down on others, how to paint a house which I made a business out of later in life, etc. etc.
He also taught me to not take life to seriously. It is only temporary! He lived with his mother, my grandma, whom I also lived with! He couldnt hold a job, in and out of treatment at least 100 times and was viewed by many as the town drunk. But I idolized that man! The town cops even knew ME by name because of him!
He wasn't a God to the regular people, he screwed up as much as I do now, but he made a big difference in my life. He died broke and with nothing, it doesn't matter to me. He was a God to me! You, too, I am sure, are someones God. Just make sure that, when you can, show the positive side of you to the rest of the world.
The true judgement isn't going to happen until your corpse is 6 feet under, and then you will probably meet my uncle Bones in heaven. Tell him I said Hi if you beat me there!!