Questions to Ponder

Our Lenten Bulletin asked questions for each of us to examine, I'll list them here a couple at a time throughout the season.

Am I sharing gladly what I have with others, especially the stranger and the poor?
Don't act like you haven't been there when $ 20 dollars may as well have been $2,000. Someone shared with you when you had a need. You never know how a small simple action can change someone's day, or even change their life. Here is something to really keep in mind: It does NOT have to be money. It can be a ride to the store, keeping a friends' child overnight so she can work, a book, a smile, a genuine compliment-ANYTHING-you get the picture. Don't think of any payoff or payback. Just keep in mind the principle of karma: What goes around-comes around.

Do I have a gracious and patient attitude with others, especially those that irritate me?
Did you laugh out loud? This is extremely hard, but it can be done if you only keep in mind that God made us ALL different. I've learned the reason people irritate me is because they're NOT ME. They don't do or say things in the way that I would do them. And thank God they don't-and who am I to be irritated? It is highly unlikely that you'll find anyone out there who would say that I irritate them..right? Did you laugh out loud again? I know people can rub you the wrong way and you don't even know why. That doesn't give any of us the right to act on that. Be gracious (more on that later), show some patience. You never know, after a while, that person may respond to you by being a little less irritating, and they won't even know it. You must be the change you want to see-Ghandi and all that.....