HIS PROMISE:  Though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.  ~  Psalms 37:24

MY PRAYER:  Lord, my burdens are great.  Help me to lean on you, for your strength will see me through these days. Reach down and hold me up with your hand according to your promise.

“Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” We have heard that saying many times. If we haven’t walked in someone else’s shoes, lived their life, fought their battles, known their joys and felt their pain, we can’t judge their actions or lack of actions. We also can’t know their true heart. All we can know is what we can see on the outside. It’s also impossible to judge a book by its cover, so why would we want to judge someone solely based on outward appearance?

Of course, the Bible says we are not to judge…period. That is God’s job at the appointed time. But it is our sinful, human nature to look at the way someone is living their life and without realizing it, make a snap judgment in our heart based upon what we either see or hear.

When we hear someone using foul language, or we see someone obviously drunk or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or wearing inappropriate clothing, or unclean, it is human nature to judge them as not worthy.

What do we think when we see a scraggly, unshaven, unclean person standing beside the road with a sign begging for help? Human nature is to instinctively think that person needs to clean up and get a job. Human nature tells us that if we give that person money, they would just buy another drink. Human nature…

Human nature is not God’s nature. It is our sinful nature. God’s nature is Divine and Holy. For those who have Christ living within them, we have been instructed that we should be more like Christ. We need to learn to see with the eyes of Christ and respond accordingly, as Christ would respond. There’s a reason for the popular question: “What would Jesus Do?”

The more time we consciously spend reflecting on how Jesus would respond to a situation and try to become more like Him, the sooner we can stop consciously spending time reflecting on how Jesus would respond to a situation. It will become our Nature… Christ’s Nature within us.

Maybe the saying should be, “Never judge someone until you have walked a mile in Jesus’ sandals.”  The more we walk in His sandals in our daily walk through this life, the more we will understand the true heart of Christ.

HIS PROMISE:  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ~  Matthew 11:28

MY PRAYER:  Lord, I am weary and have found no rest. I come to you for your promise of rest. Grant me peace that I may sleep as you send your angels to restore my soul.  Nurture my aching heart, Lord, and may I awake refreshed with your spirit.

Life is funny in a way. On the inside, we think we are just puttering along trying to get through it day by day, not really bothering anyone, just struggling along on our own merry way… or not so merry way.

Yet, it never ceases to amaze me how much one solitary soul can affect so many others in their daily walk… and most of the time, never even know it. You, for example. How many people did you interract with today? How many people did you smile at without even realizing it? Or (I hope not) how many people did you growl at through the day? Whichever, you emblazoned a part of yourself upon their heart, totally unintentionally of course. Maybe they will remember, maybe not; but you put it there, maybe for a moment, maybe eternally.

For example, I remember many years ago when one of my cousins was killed in a horrible accident. She was only 13, yet the oldest of 3 children. I went through “my” grief, just as the rest of the family went through “their” grief.  Having a small child of my own, I couldn’t possibly fathom how these parents could deal with such a loss. It broke my heart. Yet, every time I saw them, they always had a smile for me. Always.

One day, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I asked my aunt how, with the terrible loss and the tragic circumstances surrounding that loss, could she face each day, never-the-less with a smile. I really don’t remember her exact words, but she said something about the fact that she had to be strong for her other two children and her husband. She probably said something about her daughter being with the Lord… I can’t really remember as it was so long ago.

What I DO remember, is her smile, her strength, and the impression she made on ME. It changed me, maybe only a little (but it felt like a lot!), and although I’m sure she never gave our conversation a second thought, it’s something I’ve never forgotten:  a piece of her spirit she placed on my heart one day, many years ago.

Then remembering another time, I made a visit to the nursing home with my 2 oldest granchildren (ages 2 and 3 at that time) to visit their great-great grandmother, also some years ago. As we entered the foyer, an elderly woman was sitting alone in her wheelchair. My first thought was to just wheel the children (in a double stroller) down the hall to my grandmother’s room. Then I saw the lonely, empty stare in this woman’s eyes and had to wonder how long it had been since anyone had been to visit her.

I wheeled the girls over towards her and started a casual conversation, introducing the kids and telling her we had come to see “grandma”. In the 5-10 seconds those first couple of sentences tumbled out of my mouth, the transformation on this woman’s face was miraculous. The empty, hollow expression lit up like a million candles. Her eyes sparkled, color came back into her cheeks and the biggest grin I ever saw slowly crept across her face. She was beautiful!

It wasn’t much. It was simply giving her the recognition that she still mattered. A “hello” instead of looking the other way. A smile instead of disinterest. Two little giggling girls to laugh with, if only for a few moments. I don’t know if she remembered this moment after we parted, but I did. I believe that it made a difference, maybe in such a small way, but still a “good” way.

I hope that when my time comes and I’m sitting in a corner somewhere waiting….. that someone will offer me a smile, a pat on the hand, and a word or two of compassion. It doesn’t take much.

Souls touch throughout our lifetime, leaving fingerprints on our heart.  I believe this is truly what God intended when he said, “Love one another.” ~ Ferna Lary Mills

Grief is tuff enough when it comes in “one’s”.  Someone we love has been taken from us and a part of our heart has gone with them. I have often been asked, “Who has the greatest grief?”  Although grief comes in different shapes and sizes, the greatest grief is always your own. Others may have experienced grief, but no one has experienced YOUR grief… and that’s just the pain of “Grief x 1″.

So… what happens when grief is multiplied by 2, 3, 4, or what about 200,000?  I lost both of my parents within a 10-month span. Trust me, without the caring hearts of close friends and the caring hands of Jesus, I honestly believe I could not have managed to get through those awful days. That was “Grief x 2”. Several years prior, I lost my best friend and her entire family in a violent car accident. That was “Grief x 4” as my friend, her husband, and their two precious children died on Christmas Eve as a result of a drunk driver + an interstate highway + a Ford Pinto.

Many people in this country have gone through “Grief x 10, 20, or more” due to the attacks on 9/11, depending on the number of people they knew who perished on that day. Maybe some even experienced “Grief x 100”.  I don’t know.  But grief “times” any number, including the number 1 is unbearable by its very nature.

This week, watching the horrors in Haiti, crying over the photographs of pain and suffering, my heart aching for the elderly, the hurt, and the children who can’t fend for themselves, and for those who lost entire families and neighborhoods to the destruction, I can see “Grief x 200,000” and maybe even more!  

A nation wails, and their cries are heard around the world. The earth shouts in its grief. Maybe it even trembles in its grief, evidenced by the many aftershocks of this devastating earthquake. One woman was heard to cry out, “It’s the end of the world. It’s the end of the world.” I’m sure at that exact moment it felt like it, for it truly was the end of HER world as she knew it.

So, how can we as individuals, or as nations, or as simply citizens of Planet Earth cope with the insurmountable grief in the hundreds of thousands? How can we imagine a future for Haiti? How can we get past this immediate crisis and move forward with plans to rebuild and “get on with life” again? How can we even imagine that life can go on?

The answers are as simple as “Grief x 1”.  We hope … and because we have our Hope in Christ Jesus, our Hope has been promised to be fulfilled.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~ Isaiah 40:30-31

Hope… that small glimmer inside our heart that sometimes is all that is left in the midst of the destruction, all that is left of our Spirit, but yet… somehow enough.  We cling to that glimmer and allow Jesus to nourish it by our prayers until it grows strong enough that we can share it with others… strong enough to make US strong again… strong enough to lead the way to healing and the rebuilding of fractured and broken spirits, destroyed cities and nations.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ~  Hebrews 10:23

He is faithful. He is always with us. I believe He grieves with us, His tears intermingling with our own as He holds us close during terrible crisis. As he holds you close, remember to hold steadfast to your faith and to the “hope we profess” for He IS faithful.

He promised!

HIS PROMISE:  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you. ~ 2 Peter 3:9

MY PRAYER:  Lord, help me to understand that your timing is not the same as mine. I ccannot see things from your viewpoint or your timetable, for I do not have the wisdom to fully comprehend the mind of God. Help me to trust firmly in your promises.

HIS PROMISE: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.  ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9

MY PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your faithful, eternal love for me. Help me to see beyond today and to know that the things you have promised me are so much greater than my mind can ever comprehend. Help me, Lord, to learn to see things from your perspective instead of my own.

HIS PROMISE:  God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in times of trouble.
 ~  Psalms 48: 1-3

MY PRAYER:  Lord, I lean on your promise to be ever present, especially now during this time of sorrow in my life. Give me the strength to move on as you wrap your loving arms around me. Let me take refuge in your love.

If the gates of Heaven could open wide,
even just for a moment or two,
the entire world would go strangely mute
at one glimpse of that Heavenly view.

The oceans would hush.
Not one bird would sing.
Not even the wind would blow.
Then the void would be filled with a Song of Joy
heard not with ears, but within our Soul.

With just one tiny glimpse of Glory,
everything else would fall fast away.
Our purpose here
would be made instantly clear
in a strange and Supernatural way.

A blanket of Peace would enfold us,
soft as the down of angel wings.
Every tear that has ever fallen
would be forgotten as Heaven sings.

So when your burdens make you weary,
when days are short and nights are long,
be still and just let your Spirit
feel the Peace of Heaven’s Sweet Song.

© 2007, Ferna Lary Mills
Printed here with author’s permission.

HIS PROMISE:  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
~  John 3:16

MY PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for giving me the greatest gift of all – the gift of eternal life.  Help me to remain steadfast in my faith and to lean on your promise that life is eternal and death of the body is not a death of the spirit.  Help me to remember that although my loved ones are now gone from this place and temporarily out of the realm of my touch, they continue to live … with you!