By Jennifer Davis Rash
My dear sweet friend had more on her to-do list than 200 people could accomplish in one week, but she didn’t flinch when my situation changed her plans.
She looked into my eyes and saw the 98-mile trek back home was going to be a challenge for me to accomplish on my own. She made a few quick adjustments to her return-trip plan, grabbed my car keys and tucked me safely into the passenger seat.
It was merely one of those crazy headaches I get every once in a while, but it was enough to make a simple hour and a half drive on the interstate seem daunting.
The day before another sweet friend secured a babysitter and hit pause on her routinely hectic day so we could celebrate our May birthdays over lunch. She also stuck around for several hours to help me with an important assignment that was on a tight deadline.
For the past few weeks — really for the past five months — my dear friends at The Alabama Baptist have worked extra hours or gone out of their way to help me with so many different personal and professional tasks, projects and assignments.
‘Love one another’
And then there are friends from church, my neighborhood and beyond who constantly surprise me with an encouraging word, a needed hug or a random act of kindness.
I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a crowd of special friends.
The Word tells us in John 15:12–15: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
“You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
And in Colossians 3:12–14, Paul says: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Doing life together
I sometimes have a hard time accepting help. I’m stubborn like that but I’m learning I really can’t walk life’s journey on my own. I definitely need the help of friends, and I love doing things for friends as well.
The little things are really fun and something I hope I never forget to do, but it is the helping in times of extreme need that fills my heart.
It is such a special gift for me when I get the privilege of doing something for someone that I know is truly needed and appreciated.
In fact, I had an opportunity like this recently when a friend was in a bind and needed someone to pick her up. It was really a simple request but it was urgent and it was such an honor to get the call asking if I could help.
And a few days before that my husband and I had an opportunity to assist a woman who was going to be stranded for hours had we not stepped in. We ended up having several mutual friends in common and connected on a spiritual level as well.
I could have easily ignored what I was hearing as she talked on the phone near me. She didn’t realize I was there and would have never known if I hadn’t helped, but I would have known.
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Rashional Extras – 5 practices we need back in our lives
How to reincorporate practices into your life that will give you a new perspective — no matter how busy you are
Excerpt from Paul Perkins’ article in Relevant Magazine (www.relevantmagazine.com) on April 23
Life is in a constant state of flux, but here are five things you don’t want to change.
Silence
We live in a noisy world — and it’s only getting louder by the day. There’s never a moment, it seems, to pause amid the craziness, to take a breath from the rat race, to escape the franticness of life.
With silence comes reflection, contemplation, prayer and relaxation. Silence humbles us, because alone without distractions, we’re not puffed up by the false affirmation of busyness. We’re forced to confront who we are and the life we’re living.
Purposeful Conversation
As we age we put on masks. We learn to hide the bad and project the good. This results in superficial relationships and shallow conversation.
But here’s the thing: We weren’t created to live in isolation but to share life together. In fact God’s nature is relational and because we’re created in His image, we too need relationships. That means taking off the masks and opening our lives to other people. Telling a friend what’s really going on below the surface. Asking the hard questions and giving the hard answers.
Selfless Service
If there’s one advancement that defines our generation, it’s social media. While the increased connectivity is great, it’s also transformed each of us into mini-celebrities. This leaves us in a perpetual state of plotting and planning how to capture another Facebook like, another Instagram heart, another Twitter favorite.
But focused on our social standing is not how God calls us to live. We’re called to selflessness and humility, empathy and sacrifice. In short, we’re called to think less of ourselves and more of others.
The solution to our culture’s me-driven mentality is simple: service — looking to give while gaining nothing in return. And that means no status updates announcing your good deeds to the world.
Intentional Adventures
Growing up, every day was an adventure. It wasn’t just the fun activities that defined that season of life. It was the attitude — the belief that every day was full of wonder and potential. Life was whimsical.
Now that we’re adults, though, each day often looks the same. Life itself can feel routine and even boring. But it doesn’t have to.
Even if you’re in a cubicle, caring for children or answering phones, the attitude that defined your youth is still accessible. It’s simply a matter of living with intention and making the most of every moment. Choose joy, adventure and whimsy. There’s time every day to do something fun — even if only for a moment.
Mutual Encouragement
As a kid I played a lot of sports. Although I enjoyed the competition, I mostly loved being on a team and working toward a larger purpose. In that context every teammate becomes a cheerleader. There’s nothing quite like the energy created by mutual encouragement. It lifts spirits and helps everyone perform at their highest level.
As we grow older we tend to become critics of one another rather than cheerleaders. It’s us versus the world.
This is only a matter of perception though. It’s just as easy to conclude that we’re all in this together. Our success in life depends upon the success of others. It’s time to begin encouraging those around us — family, friends, even co-workers. God calls us to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24).
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“Compassion fatigue is weariness that sometimes comes to those who serve others. We are called to serve just as Christ served. What are we to do when the persistent needs of others seem to exceed our capacity to give? If we all practiced ‘love one another’ as Jesus commanded (John 15:12) with all people, there would be no such thing as compassion fatigue.”
Michael K. Wilson
Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence and Bible Studies for Life commentary
May 14 issue of The Alabama Baptist
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“The challenge of all the different roles you play is not that you don’t have enough hours in the day. The challenge of all these roles is that during the hours you choose to work you have too many different things going on at any one time to focus properly on each of them. Your time isn’t stretched; your attention is.”
Marcus Buckingham
“Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently”
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“[Through Scripture] God frequently and emphatically condemns business people who take advantage of their workers, particularly through exploitive compensation.”
Tim Weinhold
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/may-web-only/why-overpaying-workers-makes-biblical-and-business-sense.html
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