CHRISTIAN & ADULT ED – CARING, COLLABORATING, CREATING

CARING-a fondness, taste or preference for a valuable relationship or endeavor
or…
Expressing compassion and favor for the best interest of another party

In a depressed tenement in urban Chicago an older man sits in a second-hand, ragged chair. He comes as a visitor in the home of a single mom with multiple children. The chair fits snug, slightly undersized, but the man does not notice, engrossed in the genuine enjoyment of building this relationship. She speaks of joy amidst the struggles, he of a source of hope and a future. Kindness and compassion mark the words each express. In coming to the home he has met needs both physical and spiritual, being the teacher of one of her children as well as the director of the church’s outreach bus ministry. He leaves amidst thanks for the gestures of compassion. As the man walks out into the streets of the slum, he hears the oldest child, a boy express, “Momma, did you see where he sat? He sat where I sit, he sat where I sit!”

This child’s statement characterizes my view of what walking in faith and humility means. As teachers, as Christians, as friends we contribute to the value, the warmth, the meaning of people’s lives by identifying to the degree that we can. When we sit where another has sat, without judgment, we make a physical and an emotional contribution through relationship that brings spiritual dividends for years to come. “Pay it forward.”

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

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