Be Each Other's guardian Angels

Crossing the sea together

Each Sunday, I try to do something a bit more spiritual, as most people look at Sunday that way. Many others look at Saturday as the spiritual day, as that was the original Sabbath till it was changed by Constantine to get away from anything resembling Jewishness.

We have so many varied beliefs in this world about where we came from and where we will go after we pass away. I am not going to get into this, as each person has their own beliefs. The one thing I know is that we as humans have so much to offer others to make their lives more meaningful.

I had talked previously about that pesky ego that we each have to one degree or another, and how it helps us, as well as the potential to hurt in our interactions with others. The Bible teaches that we need to die to ourselves, which means to let go of those things that keep us focused primarily on ourselves, such as ignoring the plight of others in our efforts to enrich ourselves in whatever way we desire. That is why the Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself.

When we look at others' deeper needs before our own (not meaning ignoring our families and our own well-being), when we have enough to sustain us, we can receive much by giving to others. It's a satisfaction that is not achieved by most other means. We all know the person who would give his shirt off his back for someone in need! What makes them different? It's when the heart opens that this type of action takes place.

I think something happens at some point in one's life that they see injustice and have this deeper need to help others. The deep message that Christ brought forth was basically this message. It was how to experience the Kingdom while still alive. The kingdom message was for living now, not something only for later. Peace on earth and goodwill towards men is said a lot, but that is about as far as it goes.

There is a song with a strong message about this. While on Christmas Day during WWI, a soldier on the opposing side was singing Silent Night as they halted the battle before fighting again. Its a strong message and I will link it at the end. We are coming closer to Passover and Easter of which both messages talk about slaves no more. No more bondage.

Jews look at this as a time where the road to freedom was crossing the Red Sea, and Christians look at this also as crossing through the sea, representing sin & guilt, through the teachings and sacrifice of Christ. One can search forever on how one should live their lives, but I believe it's inherent in each of us to deeply know right from wrong, but its another thing to do it.

My daughter was visiting for a while and wanted to watch the old movie, Pollyanna. It had a very good message about love and forgiveness, and that there is hope for one to wake up and see that love is the answer everyone is searching for.

There was, back in the late 1800’s till around the 1920’s, what was called the orphan trains. Thousands upon thousands of orphans were removed from, especially New Your City, by supposed religious organizations. They were relocated mostly in the Midwest to supposedly loving families. But no records were kept, and no follow-up was ever done.

What really happened was that most, not all, were exploited for free labor. I listened to the story one woman had, and it was very heartfelt. No love was given by this married couple; they called her girl instead of her real name. She was separated from her siblings, never to see them again. She was with this family for 11 years, a time of beatings, no education, no love, little food, and no bedroom of her own. She slept on a rug in the kitchen.

When she left at the age of 18, she got married to a loving man, but she was emotionally empty. She felt nothing, not towards him or her 4 children. The husband would hold the kids when they had pain, as she felt nothing at all. It had been beaten and worked out of her for those 11 years.

We all have heard of lives that have been ones where love was missing. I think that for those its hard to look at God or Christ as a loving parent when they had no loving parent. One would ask, where was God when this was all happening? God was there, but God is not like a genie in the bottle giving out wishes as we desire. Sometimes lessons of life have a deeper reason than we are aware of. We each need to, as I have always believed, be each other’s guardian angels. If so, then since we really are the arms and legs of Christ, we are the ones who need to step up to the plate and take a hard swing at the ball of life and send it far and straight to bring all the players in the field home.

Silent Night in 1915 “Song I mentioned.”