The last two week's topics have been (1) Are You Thinking Positive? (Phil 4:8) and (2) Are you Praising the Lord? (Psalms 145-1-3.) This week's topic has been on the subject of thinking about the positive attributes of others (Phil 2:4, Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others. NIV)
Many years ago Marty and I bought a video that was published by Dr. Gary Smalley. We showed this video several times to couples that were having difficulties in relationships, but one time we loaned it to a couple who never returned it to us. The message was wonderful! The atmosphere was a retreat and Dr. Smalley was caring around on stage an old violin where the neck was broken. The strings were keeping the instrument attached to the neck and the body of the instrument. The cameras scanned the audience who were talking to each other and looking confused. Dr. Smalley referred to their lives as maybe being broken like that old violin and then he told them that the violin was a strativarius! The audience "awed" at that information. He said that their lives are "awe" to God and that we should treat each other with "awe"!
When I begin to think about people that I have known through my life and people I just met, I see 'awe' in their personalities and life stories! I was praying today about today's blog and a memory popped in my head that was really kind of funny! Here is that story.
I accepted a temporary position in a physical therapy office that was located in a Nursing Home. The door opened into the hall of the nursing home, so most of the time it was closed. When there were not any patient's getting therapy done the door was open. There was this one man in a wheel chair that strolled the hall yelling out all the time! I was told not to let him come in the office, because he was known to spit on you if you turned your back. I noticed him and sometimes tried to encourage a conversation and he seemed to listen. He then would leave and start his disrupting yelling through the hall. He never did spit on me. Then there came this fateful day when I was called in the office of the head physical therapist to inform me that my services were no longer needed. She was attempting to be very untruthful and cruel when this old man broke into her closed door. She was nasty to him and pushed out into the hallway. The ugly conversation was interrupted, so I just left the building. The job was just temporary anyway. Marty and I were doing worship services at the nursing home twice a month, so we went back several times in that capacity. The following week I was called from the Administration Office of the Nursing Home asking me to come back and that the head therapist had been fired! They had received a letter from an unknown person of education that discribed the incident on my last day of work. There was only one other person there that day! Yes, you guessed it! The 'awe' of how I was treated and the 'awe' of how I treated him was our secret between us. Marty and I approached him privately and thanked him. He said to not tell a soul that he puts on that act daily to help to try to right the wrong that goes on in that facility. He sees the 'awe' in people and privately takes action when it becomes necessary.
This reminds of a scripture that comes from the wisdom of God again. We truly need to find the 'awe' in people you know and in strangers that you have never met. As believers we need to spark our light of encouragement to others that need to be lifted up! People need to know that they are awesome to Jesus Christ and that they can be forgiven!
Hebrews 13:1-3, Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Rembering those in prison as if you were their fellow prisioners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. (NIV)
I will post the fourth topic on February 28, 2011 for FRESH START TODAY!
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