My counseling practical is an amazing learning opportunity. I feel both privileged to have the experience, and also deeply humbled, because I am dealing with real lives and real issues. It's a responsibility that is both inspiring and a little frightening.
I am continuing to have an education as to what really happens beneath the thin, shiny veneer we have in Singapore that covers up so much pain and poverty. Poverty exists here, in many, different forms.
Many of us are so poor that we cannot see the sufferings of others around us. It's like the eyes of our souls have shrivelled up, and our hearts are so tiny that they can barely hold anything for anyone other than ourselves. That sort of blindness of the soul and atrophy of the heart is a severe impoverishment to us and to the world at large.
We were meant to live for others, and to love others, in imitation of Christ. May we recognise this poverty within ourselves, and despise it enough to want to be transformed into the image of God, whose love is unconditional and selfless, giving and generous, even to the point of death.
How far would we go to help those who suffer in this world? Can we say to others, "I am here for you, any time of day", and truly mean that and genuinely feel the human connection between two souls? Are we authentic enough to be able to sustain these connections, realising the demands they will place on us, and how we might fail from time to time and yet keep going because that is just life, one step at a time? Can we launch out in faith, truly trusting that God will see us through, as we profess our dependence on Him for all things, including the strength and joy necessary to help others journey through life?
May we find ways to expand our personal horizons to include the multitudes who live with so much pain and hurt, and are in desperate need of assistance on so many fronts. May we give from our hearts of ourselves, that which others crave the most. Human connection and with it compassion, empathy and understanding. May we be truly human, and yet also divine, as we allow ourselves to be channels of God's love.
Enlarge our hearts, Lord, that we may see You in those around us, and in so doing truly serve from a servant's heart. Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.
Thanks for reading,
Pav
Ps. Self care... replenishing one's self so as to better serve others and avoid burn out. I love my morning walkies! Fill my cup, O Lord, till it overflows.
6 days ago
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