An older gentleman was pushing his
wife in a wheelchair towards the outside door of a local restaurant. As my
mother taught this Louisiana country boy, I held the door open. As he passed, I
joked: I found my calling in life. I make a great door stop.
I was not totally prepared for the
sincere and truly grateful look accompanying the thank you
I received. The
gentleman briefly explained how difficult getting a wheelchair through a door can
be when you open it yourself. Been there, done that with my own mother.
For just a moment, let's look at
what I believe to be toughest and least considered portion of the Lord's Prayer:
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
(Matthew
6:12; Luke 11:4a)
Ok, I know you may use sins or
debts in place of trespasses but the idea is still the same. Every time we say
Amen
to this prayer, we are asking the Father to judge us based on how we
have treated others. If we have been mean, cold, cruel, and hateful to others
throughout our lifetime, then we are asking the Father to be mean, cold, cruel,
and hateful when dealing with us after we die. If we have kind, warm, caring,
and loving to others, then we are asking the Father will be kind, warm, caring,
and loving with us.
Scary, isn't it? I cannot begin
to tell you all the bad things I would dearly love to undo in my life. While
not every religion accepts the Ten Commandments, I have yet to run into one
that omits the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you.
The wording differs, but they all have it (Matthew 7:12).
Last week, my day was off to a
really bad start. I went for some brunch where I talked with one of my
readers. She gave me the most wonderful piece of advice: Make up your mind
the rest of your day is going to better than it started. Only you can change
its direction.
I made it through a tough couple of days with this thought in mind. You see, my role in life is to make things a bit more pleasant for those whose lives I touch. How do you treat others?
Grace and peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Wes McComb is a Christ Episcopal Church member, 1534 7th St, Slidell, 643-4531, previous articles at www.christchurchslidell.com/publications )
(J. Wesley McComb is a published author and a member of Christ Episcopal Church, 1534 7th St, Slidell, 643-4531.)
© by The Slidell Independent newspaper; originally published on October 8, 2009. Used by permission of publisher and author.