Inspiring

It doesn't take much.
A word or two, or a nod.
These days, seeing someone else comment on a blog you follow.
We all have our ups and downs.
We aren't alone.
We need to remember that we are not alone,
and that others get down too.
Take comfort in others' advice.
From their encouragement.
They give it with their whole hearts.

It is really easy to read, or pass by without noticing.
Or worse yet, noticing and not stop.

I learned a valuable lesson the other day.
I read a new twist on the Good Samaritan story
in my study by Beth Moore.

Yes, the priest and the Levite passed by and the Samaritan stopped and helped.
We all know this, or have heard it.
We also learn that Samaritans were considered mongrels, half breeds.
A good Samaritan was considered an oxymoron to Jews.

In Luke 10:25-37
when Jesus told the story to the lawyer who asked
what he could do to inherit eternal life,
the lawyer would have been very familiar with the players.
I was not.

The priest and the Levite were coming from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They were on their way home from the most important
life work they would ever do.
They had been performing their brief tenure of service in the temple.

Don't you think that they would have been at their most humble,
most grateful, most willing to help moment at that time?

Sometimes good is at it's best when the law of the heart
eclipses the law of the land.
Our neighbor is the person who has a need.
He is a broken one.

Thank you friends for being neighbors to me and mine.
Even your small words of encouragement
are bright rays of needed sunshine in our lives!

I am blessed.