Charity is the one ingredient in life that is missing in the efforts being reported by the media, the right-wing and within our Churches today and that is why ultimately all their efforts will fail.
Too many people see charity as something that we do for others and fail to recognize that it is also what we feel, think and say about others. How can we find credibility in any organization like the Tea Party when they spew so much hatred towards OBama? Or in our Churches when they express such a lack of charity towards Gays? Then there is the media that sensationalizes everything to the point that we lose total sight of, if there was any charitable thought behind the message, or if it was just about the dirt gathered or the lies told.
Since I would rather keep this to what the importance of charity is to us, as an individual, instead of going into the lack of it being shown in our Country today, I will leave it at that and hope somehow the message gets through to the people involved that action without charity is bound to fail.
When I was going through one personal crises on top of the other I found that it was the acts of charity that kept me busy on other people’s problems that would ultimately be the greatest act of kindness towards my own well-being of all. Medicine can only do so much and then it is up to us to do the rest.”Patient heal thyself” is never so evident as when we feel that we need to find someone or something to lean on the most.
In my own efforts I found it difficult to explain to people why I would knowingly be helping someone who would ultimately betray me. They found it necessary to warn me that while I was giving of my time and charity by painting her apartment for her she was out partying and apparently felt it odd that I would be helping someone who would feel comfortable enough to have me doing her work free for her while she played. I tried to explain to them without little success that it wasn’t so much about what she was doing or needed as it was about what I needed at the time.
No this was not the type of charity without strings attached but I mention it because most charity that we do for others comes with strings attached. Most people do charity to fulfill a need in them. It can be with the mentality of their own image or an act to obligate others or because doing so makes them feel better about their own lives. Charity in its purest form is neither self-serving or hate filled and certainly not something that we say or do for others and then resent the fact that we did them the favor in the first place or is it filled with lies.
To find a true act of pure charity then we must look at people who do and say what they do and say without expectation of the same. It needs to be said or done for the clear purpose of the need of the person and many times without the person, themselves, knowing where the charity came. When we find remorse because we said something kind about a person or did a deed that went both unappreciated or unacknowledged then we have given charity for the purpose of our own self-esteem or need rather than for the person it was intended to help.
When the “hat gets passed” in the office for another’s birthday and we contribute because if we didn’t we are concerned of what others would think we are not giving out of a charitable attitude. The same is true when we pay our taxes and then try to remove Social Security when we know that over the years it has been the only thing that has kept a roof over the head of many of our elderly. We complain about welfare even when we are collecting much more in unemployment that what we paid into the program.
The truth is that none of us will ever live our lives without having a pure act of charity done for us or to us whether it be that person that makes our stay pleasant, talks well about us when others speak poorly even though they hardly know us, finds our pet and returns it without accepting a reward, babysits for us free of charge when Mom or Dad need to run an errand or leave town on an emmergency, drops off food at a time of loss, gives through any and all charitable organizations or group anonymously and the list goes on. Even then it is still extremely difficult to do an act of random kindness for another without feeling that the real reward goes to ourselves because of the way we feel when we do contribute without strings attached.
Long story short, if you are between solutions in your life, suffering pain as a result of trauma, or just in a malaise of some sort do something for someone else without need to be repaid and see how much better it makes you feel. Nothing gets our minds off of our own problems faster than helping someone who we recognize of having far greater of a problem than what we have.
It may be difficult right now because of how you are feeling, but there is always someone else that is experiencing worse problems than we are. In many cases, it might even be our own caregivers. Remember then the most important of all gifts is charity as it will give us both the healing power of Faith and the inspiring gift of hope. Enjoy your Sunday as it was intended to enjoy and that is with charity in your heart towards others, and I will guarantee you will have a good day.
