The healing power of being there for others
My friend Lamar Massingill, the religion editor of the Magnolia Gazette newspaper, wrote a column last week about Jesus as the Ultimate Caregiver, who always found the time to change his plans (or otherwise inconvenience himself) in order to be there for people who needed him. In praising Lamar for the column, I told him it had resonated with me on many different levels, especially his point that the person who practices this kind of healing is also deeply healed him- or herself. I said that this point was one I was always trying to make in my own writing—that to live for God and other people instead of for yourself causes most of your problems & pains to vanish into thin air!
To change the subject slightly, twice in the space of 48 hours I found myself being careless in my interactions with others. First, on the way back from a family beach vacation I stopped by to visit with my old friend Malcolm, who used to own a charter fishing & scuba diving boat in Destin. He and his wife & I had a very spirited & enjoyable conversation, but I had hoped to ask Malcolm if he still believed in God, since I hadn’t talked to him about faith in decades. But I forgot, or never got around to it. I hope he does believe, because I hope he’s happy, truly happy.
My other instance of carelessness occurred Saturday evening at a wedding of a kid who grew up living next door to me, although she hasn’t lived there in years now, and I don’t keep up with her or her family on a regular basis. I get the sense that the bride is one of those few lucky people who _really_ believes in God, and if I had had the chance to tell her how rare that gift of faith is, I would have, but I knew I probably wouldn’t get the chance at the reception, and I didn’t. When I did talk to her, however, for some reason I made a conversational mistake that I wish I hadn’t. In trying to express how much she and her sister had grown & changed, I said, “I swear to God I wouldn’t have recognized either one of you” and then, remembering that she seems to be a more conservative Christian than I am and probably doesn’t say “I swear to God” very often herself, I tried to retract it but of course it was too late. My point here is that if I had been careful I would not have used language that could indicate that I don’t take God seriously myself, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. (I mean I take him so seriously that my faith is the absolute center of my life and has been for decades, but this bride didn’t know that!) Maybe I’ll get a chance to let her know sometime soon, but if not, I guess when my book comes out, she’ll find out then!
God, help all these folks as well as everyone else in the universe, with everything they do!
