“You should be ashamed to die before you have made some significant contribution to mankind-“ Horace Mann.
I think he’s got it right. This post is going to bounce a little off of what I talked about yesterday (which, if you haven’t read the post about the mule, I would encourage you to do it).
What does Horace mean? Finding a cure for Cancer? Bringing world peace? Ending a war? Building a charity?
No.
He means helping others. He means doing work for God and His Kingdom.
When I thought about that, I thought, my servant heart has withered a little bit. I was a little selfish. I have too many problems, I have too many issues, I have too many worries. I’m just trying to make it day by day, it’s a struggle to help myself, let alone help someone else.
And then the hurt in me speaks up. When I was hurt, sometimes, nobody was there for me when I was in the midst of some dark days, and I was even abandoned and refused help. It was hard. So why should I help someone else when on some days, there was nobody here for me?
But then I tried to think about those hard times and struggles in a different way.
When we are elevated- when we step up from the dirt that is being thrown on our back, sometimes we go through those experiences so we can help other people.
I’ve quoted a professor time and time again who told me this: “To give, even when you have nothing, to be kind to all of the people in your life= the secret of happiness.”
I have had the opportunity to help other people
When we help other people, as I said yesterday, we are not only blessing other people, but ourselves.
Don’t let the hardships bury you- let them be the things that elevate you, and then become a resource for others.
When you die, what do you think is going to matter? How much money you earned? How many awards you earned? How many toys you had? How strong you were in the weight room? How many people you knocked down? How many petty grudges you held? What your grades were in college?
NO!
None of that stuff is going to matter. But I’ll tell you what is going to matter- how many people you helped. How many people you made contributions to. How many people you did not give up on. That’s why you will not be ashamed to die- because you know you gave up what you had to help others. That’s what matters. That you showed the love that Christ showed you.
Last night I had a rough night. I was so upset about some things that I didn’t eat dinner, until about 11:30. I was watching Chopped as I did so. One of the chefs competing for the $10,000 prize kept saying over and over again how much she needed it so she could see her sick grandmother in France.
When it came to the final round, she lost. She was devastated. But her competitor did something that made me cry. He said, “I want you to have my $10,000 prize so you can see your grandmother.
Wasn’t that touching? He knew what it meant to give, and what it meant to help others. Because when we share, we may lose possessions, money, time, or effort, but we gain so much joy, it is worth it.
And when we lay back down on the death bed, those moments- those ten thousand dollar give away moments are going to be worth it.
Here’s my challenge for you today- find someone to help. Grab your keys, your wallet, purse, whatever, and head out your door. Find someone to help.
Because that’s what really matters- giving and helping. All in the name of Jesus.
Blessings:
-Today I went to see my medical doctor. I needed to have a check up with my psychiatrist back at school this month, and I didn’t want to travel all that way just for a half hour appt. with her. So she said I could check in with my medical doctor. Things seem to be going well, but we are doing a switch in medication again. I’m going off of one of my night time antidepressants and on to Ambien. I hope it goes well.
-I was outside doing some yardwork and one boy on the sidewalk hollered at me, “HEY!” I looked, and I knew he looked familiar. I figured he was a child who was from our Bible School. No, he informed me he was a student I had when I did my capstone teaching days in January. He said “You were a really good teacher.” I smiled really big.
-Strength to face a hard day.
-Got some good things in the mail today.
-Getting a new Mitch Albom book
-Getting things cleaned up!
I like it, and for the most part, I agree. Just not quite on one bit:
ReplyDeleteBecause when we share, we may lose possessions, money, time, or effort, but we gain so much joy, it is worth it.
I don't think it's worth it because of any joy we get. I think it's worth it because of the joy or hope that someone else gets. I think that any joy we get out of it is just a nice bonus side effect.
When I was hurt, sometimes, nobody was there for me when I was in the midst of some dark days, and I was even abandoned and refused help. It was hard. So why should I help someone else when on some days, there was nobody here for me?
-So that you know that someone else has been spared even a little bit of what you went through.