Greater care for one another...

Something else that I am doing this year is working to take greater care of others. We all need to do this. I know that while some may consider me a generous person on the surface, I am also very regimented to the point of being selfish. I’m constantly going from point A to point B, needing to get this and do that and when someone throws a monkey wrench into my plans, everything falls apart.

Tragedy does not make an appointment. Happily, neither does joy. I need to be better prepared for dealing with both.

I started small. This year (I actually started in February) I have called all of my friends on their birthdays. It’s not just enough to get the card or gift in the mail on time. In the past, if the person’s birthday was during the week and I was running around and if we didn’t speak on the phone very often (excuses, excuses) I would shoot the person a quick e-mail and be glad that the card reached them in good time. I thought about this and I realized that for the couple minutes it takes to write an e-mail I can just as easily pick up the phone and TELL said friend that I wish them a happy birthday and let them know they mean something to me.

Then, when Jim’s mom died suddenly a little over a week ago, I was given the opportunity to try do better in a sad circumstance. The wake was on Wednesday night and I happen to also have my weekly hour of adoration every Wednesday night. At first I just figured that I couldn’t go to the wake and I would just mail a mass card and pray for Jim and his mom at adoration. Then it dawned on me that this was a prime opportunity to show greater care for my friend. I arranged for a substitute at adoration and drove an hour in each direction for the wake and hand-delivered my mass card and hugged my friend. I know that Jim appreciated my attendance and it made me feel good to show my support in a real and meaningful way.

I have decided that I cannot allow my life to become so “busy” that I am not doing the real things that matter. Things like physically being there for people I care about and making extra effort to share in people’s happiness and/or sadness. I cannot allow the fact that I daily manage 10 people and that they count on me for guidance on what to do and how to work stop me from taking time away from the office with almost no notice and literally be with people who need me in their time of sorrow or time of joy. I am a care taker—I minister to people in many ways as a daughter, friend, boss, youth minister, child of God, and so on. Sometimes plans and schedules have to be tossed aside at a moment’s notice in order for the Lord to use me and for me to do my greatest works for Him.

Let’s all begin to think about small ways we can take greater care of one another—not just our parents, spouses, kids, and dogs, but beyond that intimate circle of the people we live with or talk to every day. At the end of the day, it’s one of the main reasons why we are here.