How Can We Do Less?

We Value One Another 

I remember a song from years ago: "Love Makes The World Go 'Round".  It was a happy song that reminded us of the importance of loving each other. It was a much more simple time in many ways, but more difficult in others.

My husband and I were born in the early 1940s. The world was reeling from a horrific war. Perhaps every family had someone in the military service. There were sacrifices at home. Commodities needed for the war effort were rationed. Women went to work in massive numbers, leaving fewer and fewer children with a mother in the home to greet them at the end of their school day or mix up a batch of bread or cookies that filled the house with an amazing aroma when they were baking in the oven -- often the oven of a wood fired stove, burning fuel that she had chopped up with an axe. We wore hand-me-downs and thought nothing of it. In our house, water for the Saturday night bath was heated and we took turns bathing in the galvanized tub that sat in the kitchen with doors closed and blinds pulled.

It was a tough time, but there were some advantages. People cheerfully helped one another. Neighbors pitched in to help neighbors -- it was volunteer work. Children helped to care for the gardens and animals. They learned at a young age that faithfulness to the responsibilities of life were crucial to everyone. It was team work -- and it was team play. We weren't separated from one another when the electronic wonders were few and far between. We DID listen to stories read and dramatized over the radio. We gathered around the piano to sing. Families went to Church together and they gathered on Sunday for huge meals, most often featuring meats, vegetables, and fruits that were home grown. For the most part, we valued one another. One thing we do not remember is a feeling of entitlement. We knew that "money doesn't grow on trees" and we learned to be patient for what we wanted and thankful for what we got. We weren't allowed to grumble and complain!

There is a saying that, "big things come in small packages." Let's remind ourselves to be thankful.
The Bible says, "in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Now, I am not advocating that we all need to go back to houses with no central heat, water pumps in the yard, outdoor toilets, and a life with no computers or TVs. But what I AM advocating is for us to set our focus on becoming thankful, creative, productive, appreciative, and loving members of our homes, Churches, and communities. We need to learn to have fun just being together and to be sensitive to one another's needs. We need to LOVE one another and treat one another with respect and kindness.

Let's be reminded of the LOVE that God expects us to show (remember we are to "love our neighbor as ourselves"?)  By the way, "neighbor" includes our spouse, our parents, our children, our siblings, and anyone whose path crosses ours.

I Corinthians 13 is considered to be the GREAT "Love Chapter" of the Bible. Here is part of it:  " Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails."

It really IS tough to love some people. But when we are tempted to turn away and withhold the love that God says he has "shed abroad" in our hearts as Christians, we ought to ask ourselves a question.
"Was it easy for God to love ME when His own Son was bearing MY sin on the cross?" He could have turned His back on us -- but He didn't.

How can we do LESS?