Church this weekend rocked me… again.
I like how The River and Terry Prisk in particular challenge me. It’s not about always going to church to feel “good” and get “credit” for going… but about how we can grow and live to make an impact.
This Sunday, The Green Room’s Scott Crownover spoke. Man is that guy an amazing storyteller!
One story he shared referenced this poem from Kent M. Keith which was apparently found among Mother Teresa’s items after she died.
The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
It’s amazing how lazy, full of excuses and self centered I can be – it’s something I struggle with every day.
Even when I try to do good “anyway,” I feel like the Kara of middle school who was so tall I just tried to slouch to fit in… CERTAINLY not stick out or be different. I was so afraid of what others might think of me. I just wanted to blend into the walls.
Would people think I was just trying to “look” good by giving back? Will people question my motives for trying to live differently? Will I fail and make people think worse?
Just hearing Scott say these words and then taking communion after made an incredible impact on me.
I want to choose the road Jesus chose; the road of love and action. And when I fall, he’ll be there to pick me back up again.
I just want to do it … anyway.
Image Via.
