Doing Good

To me, today's readings are all about doing good. In Isaiah, we are being urged to serve those in need. In Matthew, we are called out on our hypocrisy for failing to do the good that we preach. So I thought I would take this entry to describe examples of people living out love that I have seen lately. I think sometimes, I get hung up on how to live like Jesus. I say, "Okay, I get it, we're supposed to love others, but HOW do we do that?" Of course, there's always going to soup kitchens, just being nice to people, etc. But here are some examples of people really going above and beyond, who I think are on their way to sainthood.

And I'm going to use code names for them, because I want them to get their Heavenly reward, so I can't praise them too much =)

-J1: She missed two exams to stay with me because I was immobile due to my back pain. She stayed by my side, giving me medicine, telling me silly stories, and trying to recruit help. Then, when she went to the store to buy some yogurt for me to crush my pain pills into, she took it upon herself to come back with a flower and a microwave meal so that I would have food to eat later. She later came back and spent the night so I wouldn't be alone.

-C: Just an overall positive person to be around in general, but this girl came over and just sat by so that I wouldn't be alone, while I slept (because of my pain medicine). We really didn't interact much, she was just there to help me go to the bathroom and stuff.

-S: She has been driving me around like crazy, picking things up from the store, giving me rides to work. She sat in the waiting room for two hours while I was at the doctor's office. Today, she drove me to work, drove home, then pick me up from work, only to drive home. That's asking a lot of someone, and she did it happily.

-J2: She let me stay at her place for the weekend to recover, gave me a wonderful bed to sleep in, and provided me food galore. I had a great time talking to her about spiritual matters and life matters, and she is a new friend, so it was awesome to have this experience.

So these are all big things. Acts of love don't need to be grandiose. Here are some everyday examples of love:

-A new friend sent me an email just to see how I was doing, and since we like playing games together, included a game in the email for me to play. Just saying "hello" would have been nice, but that made the email even more personalized.

-The woman I teach computers to lent me this back support that she uses because she thought it would help my back. I felt really bad taking it from her, but she promised that she has another one that she uses.

-A friend sent me a link to a sock monkey festival that was going on, because she knew it would make me smile.

But really, it's in the little facebook posts, it's in the smiles; those little gestures do not go unnoticed.

This might just be the cheesiest blog post ever written, but during this time of Lent, when almsgiving is a focus, it's nice to have experienced it firsthand.