Love your neighbour as yourself.
easier said than done.
earlier today, at the end of my morning jog, there were two old men by that wharf, maybe in their early 50s or late 40s. i believe they were homeless gentlemen, or lived in a shelter, carrying all their necessities on their backs. i was doing my devotions then, and one of them came up to me and asked for help. their radio wasn't working, and they wondered if i could fix it. so i tried, i really didn't mind at all. and after a lill while, it started working. then the guy (his name was Larry) went back to his friend. a few minutes later, his friend came up to me . now if i were a boy, i would have been less cautious.. but i started getting a bit creeped out. partly cuz i'm a girl, partly cuz these 2 guys honestly looked quite sketchy, and partly cuz i was in a pretty desolate area... so if i screamed there would be no one to hear me.
what especially triggered my worry? it was when the friend came up to me and said out of the blue that the guy named Larry had the "hots for me" . so alarm bells starting ringing, and i was freaking out inside. all i could think of was "GET OUT OF THERE QUICK" . Don't get into any trouble. RUN!
And then the friend introduced himself; he held his hand out to shake mine .. cuz well, its custom . and i honestly did not want to shake his hand. i hesitated for a split second, but i gave in afterwards. i mean, when you think about it, you'd be asking for more trouble if you took the other route. but the fact that i hesitated is saddening. something that stuck out in my mind was when the friend told me just before I left that they were good people, and that I had no reason to feel afraid or worried. this brought up 2 points in my head: (1) they could tell i was uncomfortable in that situation... so in other words, they knew i was judging them and making assumptions based on their appearances. (2) Jesus befriended the very least of us during his reign on Earth - meaning the beggars, the prostitutes, the lowest of the lows on the foodchain of mankind.
So if we are called to be like Jesus, if we are called to "love thy neighbor as thyself" why didn't i do it? i judged just like the Pharisees. there was no heart of understanding, compassion, or love. all i felt was fear, and all i wanted was to be done with them at the earliest possible moment. what kind of love am i showing there? ..it then got me thinking. what about charity? when we give to the poor --> wouldn't that action come from a heart of understanding, compassion and love? well, i say no. that sounds somewhat skeptical.. but charity is so incredibly impersonal. yes, you give to the poor, but you're not befriending them. you help them on more of a once-in-your-lifetime sort of deal - not expecting to ever see them again. but we're not called to do that. Jesus didn't do that. he's asking so much more from us. so much, that i doubt i can offer a portion of it.
if given this whole situation by the lake again, i'd do the exact same thing... or i might not have even gone there at all. i know my parents would definitely not have wanted me there; they probably don't ever want me jogging by myself anymore. it is one thing to show love ... but it is another to be naive to the point where you're endangering your own self. then the question still persists: what would Jesus do? and does that apply to my situation? especially seeing as he was a man, and i am still a girl. did i dissapoint my father in heaven today? i think i did. i know i did.
so my prayer is this: Lord teach me to love as you have loved. Allow me to be the salt and light of this world as you have called your people to be. Let me not be afraid, for you are with me, and you will protect me. Lord give me the strength and courage to see beyond the surface straight to the heart that is yearning for you. I pray all these things in your Son's most precious name, Amen.
