There’s no telling the power
of the kind word aptly timed. More so
the silent act of kindness ‘uttered’ powerfully far above the constraints of
common reality.
Hardly conscionable is the fact of
that time of deep distress — for whatever reason — that achieves with it the
support that was needed ‘just in time’.
And yet, we’ve all known times
when such help came, and most times inexplicably so. We put it down to the Lord (if we believe),
sheer luck/fate or just to the sharp perception of another who knew us well and
loved us in that moment with a selfless word or act — perhaps even for a whole
season.
How this sense of being touched by
another person — one who played that God-in-skin role for us — has made such a
remarkable difference in and to our lives now.
‘Be’ That Person
This is a translucently simple
message.
An open challenge to every one of
us is to wake with the fresh, though intentional, thought every single day: “Whom shall I help today?”
And, “How shall I look for the opportunity?”
One deed of kindness at the
appropriate time for one person — be it a smile, the issue of grace, a gentle
encouraging word, an invitation to dinner — is a golden moment of celebration
in the heavens as the angels unite in God at seeing the will of the Father made
known in the world.
Thousands of opportunities lay
before us. Not even ninety percent of
these opportunities, however, will even be perceptible. But still, they beckon.
A Commanding Premise
Although the commandments of God are
simply stated and are in one accord with the foregoing they still are never so
natural for us.
We beat ourselves up too much in
retrospect for missing golden opportunities when a commanding premise of God is
nothing about
condemnation for missed opportunities or ill-advised-at-the-time selfishness
causing regret and remorse.
All we do then, instead, is look
forward and ‘go’ again, God with us as we go.
The next opportunity to sow into
the ever-appending flow of life and then the next... these are the issues of
real consequence for us.
We don’t stop at failures to love. We instead look forward to the approach of
the downcast soul — and the myriad form these take — and do whatever the
God-instilled moment requires.
Then we go on, at harmony with the
purposes of God.
Words or Actions
Words are not inferior to actions,
for at times words are the action required.
Still, most often our actions speak volumes beyond our words and
silence-with-hands-and-feet to act is often the best reply.
Even very small things are of
eternal importance.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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