An Important Relationship. Our minister was on vacation and asked me to preach last Sunday. I am always honored by the requested and enjoy it for several reasons. A major reason is — I always gain from developing a sermon. Sometimes I learn something new. Sometimes I am reminded about something I already knew. I always gain something.
In my work for last week, I gained a deeper appreciation for the importance of the relationship between time spent thinking about how I am treated by others versus how much time I spend thinking about how I treat others. I am not sure whether the appreciation is a reminder or new learning.
We all think about how others treat us. Most of us think about how we treat others. One important question I asked myself is what is the proper relationship between the two. Should I spend more time thinking about how I am treated or how I treat others.
I came to one conclusion. As a person of faith, I expect to have to face God someday. When I do, I seriously doubt he will talk with me about how others treated me, but I fully expect God to be deeply concerned about how I treated other people.
My concern is not the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule is a obviously a good practice and is related to my interest, but my focus is — are we more concerned with others treatment of us or our treatment of others. Where do we put our attention?
Even if you are not a person of faith, I believe the best way to act is to be more concerned with how you relate to others.
In my own life I know that when I get caught up in how I think Jeny is treating me more than having a concern for how I am treating her, our relationship suffers. Those problems are my responsibility. When I think more about how I should treat her our relationship is better.
I see the same thing in churches, schools, work situations and family dynamics. Difficulties arise when people are more concerned with how they are treated than how they are treating others.
To state the relationship in a positive manner, I see fewer difficulties in churches, schools, work, and family situations when people are more concerned about how they are treating others than how they are treated.
Churches thrive where people are more concerned about what they can do for the others than what the church can do for them.
The best teachers I have experienced or observed were more concerned with proper treatment of their students than worrying about how students treated them.
I have experienced or observed better work environments when doctors, clerks, employers, employees are more concerned about proper treatment of their clients, customers, and others, than worrying about themselves.
I think my observation is a reminder of something I heard long ago – “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy.
Some vs. None. When I was Vice -President at The University of South Alabama, Providence Hospital outgrew their midtown facility. The Sisters of Charity wanted to move to west Mobile and build a larger facility. They decided to donate the old facility to the university. (As an interesting aside, the new Providence Hospital was sold to the University this last year.)
When we acquired the space, the business department for the university had to rent out the space to pay for maintenance. They even charged academic units for space. On the plans for the building, they assigned dollar amounts that varied depending on the quality of the space. Some space was $2 a square foot and some was $8 a square foot.
The University Photo Archives reported to me. They needed more space. Some of the space priced at $8 was perfect for them. I went to the business officer and offered him $2 until he found someone to fill the space for $8. The archives could only afford $2.
His choice was $2 or zero dollars. He chose zero until his boss told him to take the offer.
I was reminded of this story when I read about the border legislation possibly failing because, in part. some people thought limiting the migrants to 4000 a day is too many migrants. I think I am right in saying the migrants would be people considered for immigration, not people allowed to live illegally in the United States.
I know the situation is complicated and I know I do not understand everything. I just know we have a serious border problem and I believe any reduction and control is better than no reduction and control. $2 is better than zero.
This and That.
I saw this bumper sticker and I liked it: More wag less bark
I find it hard to argue that the Jeanne Carrol lawsuit is a Democrat attempt to keep Trump from being elected. Her claim is a long-standing civil suit.
The latest ridiculous idea I read is that the NFL is fixing the Super Bowl in favor of the Chiefs. The Democrats are doing it to help Taylor Swift and then she will back Biden. Where do people get this stuff?
The U.S. keeps track of immigrants requesting to stay in the U.S. I found it interesting and disturbing that there were far more people on the terror watch list trying to enter through Canada than Mexico.
I am processing the answers to my request for dialog about the lost election. I plan to discuss it next week.
Good News
First Responders
Police Officers Deliver Free Firewood To Elderly Citizen Without Heat (sunnyskyz.com)
Major Companies Show Their Good Heart.
Arby’s Foundation Erases Student Lunch Debt For Over 7,000 Students (sunnyskyz.com)
Peace
Jerry
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