If I Care

(Insert hip jerk and sarcastic undertones)

"It is risky to care - I may be disappointed."

It is risky to care. Caring is an investment - a vulnerability that requires more of myself and a commitment to a higher calling. This requires me to let the world in. I could be hurt by disappointments or pain, but living in fear is no better. Being cynical, and self-protective only leaves me feeling alone and tired. Taking the step to invest in others and give freely takes courage and tenacity, because it never gets easy.

We need people to care.

I went to my scripture reading for the day during my quiet time this morning. This has been a long journey for me (that is, reading scripture deliberately, daily). I turned away from the church and anything that had to do with Jesus for many years. We began attending a sweet church almost two years ago (this is an entire blog post in itself) and I have slowly been drawn back in by this man that served the world. Last Lent, instead of giving something up, a friend of mine and I decided to pick up a practice. Mine was reading scripture. I continued  beyond Easter, as I was seeing God really speak to me through the words of the Bible and knew the teaching was not over.

OK, so now that that's out of the way. Today as I listened (Pray As You Go) to John 3:13-17, I heard the same message from the quote I just listed above. Care. The words of this verse are not unfamiliar to me, but the assimilation of the text in my heart today was (hear what the Spirit is saying). John 3:16 was one of our first memory verses in my Southern Baptist upbringing. The focus when I was young was on this promise not to perish (if you made the right choice) and how we should appreciate this thing that has been given because we are sinners (=bad) and God decided to fix what we screwed up (=we suck). (I am trying to convey the negative imagery I had around this verse as a child, and it does not seem to be coming through.) Nonetheless, as I heard it this morning, I heard the message of love.

The leader of the message today mentioned how easy it is to hate the world. For me, this brought me back to how challenging it is to care about the world. Why should I invest myself when no one else is and they are out for themselves. If I don't go out for myself, no one will. This mindset is how our world sort-of works, until someone makes a different choice. This morning, my choice was to look for something around me that shows me the miracles of this life. It starts small - the little chickadees eating at our bird feeder in the early morning sunlight, dew adorns the ground, chirping of the cardinals linger in the air. There! I just took a whole 30 seconds to acknowledge something beautiful.

Throughout the day today, I believe this post has been revealing itself to me. I have had opportunities to see how I can care in my own life and I want to share these with you.

How to Care:

* Connect 

We must first connect with ourselves and our God. We must search within ourselves to find the truth of what's alive in us in that moment and acknowledge our own needs and what we are being called to do. This takes vulnerability and honesty with ourselves and our God. Admitting the fear or anger is the first step to moving past it.

* Attune

This is a very musical word. I hear 'tune' and immediately think of some sort of instrument. We are instruments. To truly care and be in this world without condemning it, we must bring harmony by connecting our needs with the needs of others. This takes the practice of connecting to the needs of others.

* Respond

Today in yoga, I did a practice surrounding the choice to respond rather than react. The teacher mentioned that reactivity is our instinct - the part of ourselves that seek to survive. This is our fight-or-flight and our instinct to shut down when we are scared or hurting - the part of ourselves that freaks out and saves us from being hit by a car. This is a vital part of life when it comes to said car incidents, but in most human relationships, it can be a dangerous ally.

Responding is our intuition. It's that part within us that is connected to our higher thinking (that piece that, for me, is my pipeline from God) and acting from that place.

* Empathize

We must see the humanity in ourselves and other people. This may mean simply listening. To listen empathically, without judgements, to the hearts of people, while acknowledging what is alive in us, is how we truly care and bring love and light into this world.

Blessings on the Journey!