Re-reading the Classics

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
--Emily Dickinson

I've been reading Little Women by Louisa May Aclott and Emily Dickinson's poetry lately and am reminded of lessons I tend to forget. Some of that work seems irrelevant at first glance, but the more I think about it, the more I see those lessons still apply. For instance, I find it hard to keep perspective sometimes that I'm not here to please myself. The characters in Little Women struggled with that dilemma as well. Now, more than ever, we live in a culture that is all about self-gratification and instant satisfaction. Even our television viewing is saturated with reality shows about people who do NOT live in reality (thereby causing kids to think this is what life is supposed to be like, by the way). But these attributes are not new to the human race. Greed and selfishness have been around since the beginning of time. And yet, I am so quick to look at society and celebrities and scold for how selfish everyone is, but I have to take time to remember that I need to look at the plank in my own eye first. Instead of worrying what everyone else can do to help people, maybe I should worry about what I can do to help people. Taking care of the less fortunate is not a job for the government. It's a job for the church according to Jesus. And I am the church. We are the church. The church is not a building, it's individuals like myself. I am hoping to retrain my focus from clucking at how awful people around me are. Instead, I'm going to try asking myself, "What can I do to help someone else?" Sometimes, that answer is only prayer, but prayer is mighty powerful.