Simple: Good
"When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes." Proverbs 11:11
Now to write about "doing".
As many of us wonder what to do in this pandemic...
As many of us wonder how to help others in this pandemic...
As I continue to wonder about my place in this time, I came across Proverbs 11.
As many of us wonder how to help others in this pandemic...
As I continue to wonder about my place in this time, I came across Proverbs 11.
I'm camping out in this book for a while because of its simplicity and crisp common sense. Both philosophical and experiential, Proverbs both shows how life works and how it is meant to work. It tells us something about God as both cosmic coordinator and as parent, writing in chalk what us rambunctious school children are supposed to do and how we're supposed to live.
It's both deep and profound, and yet so simply basic.
Like this verse: "When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes."
I chewed on that as I chewed on the entire chapter, which essentially describes characteristics of good people and bad people. What they do and how live and how they act. It's familiar stuff, stuff we can witness in the evening news or a favorite sitcom. Good people produce good lives, good homes, good cities; bad people bad.
Simple.
To do good, do good.
It's funny, but I needed that reminder that what I need to do is good. And doing good, even in these troubled days, isn't difficult. It's simple.
We can get very philosophical about what "good" and "living rightly" is I suppose, but I like how the writers of Proverbs assume common sense. Essentially, goodness is of God, so do good.
Goodness is the stuff that lasts, that blesses; what helps to make a businesses, a family, a friendship, a neighborhood, or a city, flourish.
I was reminded of this, the importance of goodness (no matter how simple), from two news articles this week.
One was about a local mom in Smyrna, TN, 20 minutes up the road from me, who wanted to help out all the kids in her neighborhood during quarantine. So she gets the idea to rally everyone to put bears in their yards--bears of all kinds--coloring, stuffed animals, what have you--and created a whole "going on a bear hunt" experience, based on the classic children's book, that the kids and parents could do safely from their cars or on foot (6 feet or more a part, of course). Because of her act of compassion towards children, the neighbors have bonded together more tightly to help one another during the Corona crisis. That article here
In another news article I read yesterday the Prime Minister of New Zealand had taken the time to form a message for children in which she affirmed that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy are "essential workers" and would still carry out responsibilities during the Covid-19 quarantine. However, she also gently reminded them that if for some reason they did not see them, then they must know how very busy these individuals are with so many families and their own and might have difficulty getting to everyone. The full, delightful article is here. (Side note: you'll learn that to be called a "G" in NZ is to be likened to a gangster--smooth, calm, cool, and collected. Their PM is called a G. How cool is that?)
One was about a local mom in Smyrna, TN, 20 minutes up the road from me, who wanted to help out all the kids in her neighborhood during quarantine. So she gets the idea to rally everyone to put bears in their yards--bears of all kinds--coloring, stuffed animals, what have you--and created a whole "going on a bear hunt" experience, based on the classic children's book, that the kids and parents could do safely from their cars or on foot (6 feet or more a part, of course). Because of her act of compassion towards children, the neighbors have bonded together more tightly to help one another during the Corona crisis. That article here
In another news article I read yesterday the Prime Minister of New Zealand had taken the time to form a message for children in which she affirmed that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy are "essential workers" and would still carry out responsibilities during the Covid-19 quarantine. However, she also gently reminded them that if for some reason they did not see them, then they must know how very busy these individuals are with so many families and their own and might have difficulty getting to everyone. The full, delightful article is here. (Side note: you'll learn that to be called a "G" in NZ is to be likened to a gangster--smooth, calm, cool, and collected. Their PM is called a G. How cool is that?)
What goodness! To simply affirm imagination and magic even in such a time as this, especially in such a time as this.
To comfort children, this is goodness.
To encourage parents, this is goodness.
To remind others of hope and love, this is goodness.
As I wonder what I can do in this crack of history, I am reminded to simply offer goodness--to my husband, to my children, to my family, to my neighbors, to my friends.
A kind word.
A soft touch.
A gracious favor.
A task completed well.
A gentle attitude.
More teddy bears.
More Easter eggs, bunnies, and what have you.
More teddy bears.
More Easter eggs, bunnies, and what have you.
Whenever and wherever I have opportunity, I can offer goodness. Each of us can.
I wonder if like me you wonder what your place in this time is? Dear reader, I wish I could answer that for you. But I know we can help our cities, our families, our friendships flourish as best as we can by offering goodness.
Simple.
Let us offer goodness to one another today.
I wonder if like me you wonder what your place in this time is? Dear reader, I wish I could answer that for you. But I know we can help our cities, our families, our friendships flourish as best as we can by offering goodness.
Simple.
Let us offer goodness to one another today.
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley
More beauty from my favorite daughter. ❤️
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