Part Nineteen: And A Word From Our Sponsor

            Rancor is what I see in social media and news feeds.  Violence, shootings, rants, raves.  My side is right; your side is wrong.  Anger, shaming, political posturing.

            Love is what I see in the cards that grace my piano top; love is what I see in the generosity of family and friends; love is what I see in spontaneous acts of kindness.  Love is in the meal brought by a friend.  Love is in a ride given.  Love is in a hair stylist as she volunteers her time to shave my head.

            And wisdom is what I see from two authors whose eloquent words grip my soul:

            Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.

            Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.

            Forget about deciding what’s right for each other.  Here’s what you need to be concerned about:  that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is.

            Help others with encouraging words.

            Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others.

            Strength is for service, not status.  Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

            Eugene and Paul, collaborating across the centuries, remind me what is essential in life.  Paul wrote the Greek; Eugene transposed it into twentieth century American English.  I copied my pink highlights from Romans 12-15.

            No matter how full or empty your schedule, no matter how influential or invisible your life, no matter how few or how many you impact each day, take heart in today’s words from our sponsor.  They are for all of us.