Tag: people

Good and Evil

Jennifred Jones

Ask yourself the question…what do I consider to be good?

What do I consider to be evil?

Then ask…what do other people think is good?

What do they think is evil?

What determines what is good?

Who says that is evil?

What is good?

What is evil anyway?

What would good look like for me and my family?

What would evil look like for me and my family?

What would it look like if good was done to me and my family?

What would it look like if evil was done to me and my family?

Which do we support?

What do we want to have happen to us? Good or evil?

What are we doing and thinking in our lives? Good or evil?

We make choices every day.

What we decide will impact us and others.

For good or evil.

We have tremendous power.

 

Don’t Trash Your Treasure

Jennifred Jones

I don’t have any treasures; nothing I have is worth anything. I don’t have expensive clothes, jewelry or cars. All I have is me and my family…or you might say, ‘all I have is me’.

That is your best treasure! In the end when all is said and done, the only thing we will take to heaven with us is our family, so start there.

But, my family is no good, they don’t care about anything or anybody, much less me, you say. Perhaps they too, don’t realize what a treasure they really are.

I believe God wants us to take out our polishing cloth and shine up the treasures in our lives. When we begin to treat ourselves and others like the valuable treasures they are, they will begin to shine in a new and more beautiful light.

Who decided that diamonds and sapphires were beautiful treasures? All they are are rocks! …Just a plain old ugly looking rock. Think about the quartz geode…nothing interesting there, until you crack it open and look inside. Diamonds and sapphires have to be dug out of the ground, have all the slough brushed off and be cleaned and really examined to see their true value…in other words, how to draw out their inherent, but at the time invisible beauty. It takes a lot of thought to decide the best way to shape and polish a stone for its maximum potential.

That takes too much time…I could be doing something else. I would only be wasting my time.

Yes, it takes time to see the beauty in you and in others; we all have to be ‘studied’. It takes time to grow and develop yourself or another human being.

Is that worth it?

Is life worth it to pour a bit of yourself into helping make someone else better?

A little baby grows slowly and cannot grow well on its own. The loving parent sees value in the baby and works diligently to care for and teach the baby so it can grow and develop into someone who is strong and capable and able to care for itself and others.

The funny thing about caring for yourself and others is that you get better at it and you feel better. The more you help others develop, the more you develop, and the more you develop, the more you can help others.

It’s a circle that gets bigger and bigger and reaches out to more and more, widening the influence from the one good treasure that you decided not to trash but to value and use.

Take out your polishing cloth and begin to see the treasures you already have!

Helping one can help many

Jennifred Jones

Yesterday, at church, our pastor prayed for all the people hurt or affected in any way by the recent horrific earthquake in Nepal.

Today as I looked at pictures of distraught people desperately looking for missing members of their families, I remembered several Asian Indians who own the gas station in my neighborhood. I have met and talked with them at other times and knew they had family over in that area, and the thought came that I should check about their families.

When I asked if his family was alright, the owner said, “Yes, thank God!” I was immediately relieved, but noticed the look of gravity on his face because of the effect on their home country land.

Returning home, I thought, “I cannot go over there and help physically, I know of no immediate way to get relief to the region, what can I do to help?”

Besides praying for them, the thought occurred to bake something and take to them as a small tangible token of compassion and care on my behalf for them and their suffering people.

They like spicy foods, so my cranberry-orange scones sounded like a good recipe to use, and I took them back to the gas station while they were still warm from the oven, and hoped there wouldn’t be anybody in line… so I could talk to them.

The store looked empty inside and I handed him my cranberry scone gift and told him that since I couldn’t go over there to help and didn’t know what else to do to ease the suffering, I was giving them this small token to let them know I cared about them and their people.

It was a heartfelt moment between two people, two different nationalities, bonding as fellow human beings with like concerns about family, life, suffering and compassion.

He was touched, I felt like crying just from the emotion of the moment, and as I turned to leave, I noticed a line of people had come in behind me, no doubt observing the whole thing. I tried quietly to get out the door.

It was back to business as usual.

Only the love of God can cause something beautiful to come from something ugly like an earthquake.