Monday's Mantra

Open Your Eyes

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United! I’m thrilled you took the time to join us for a little break and for our Monday’s Mantra, which for the last several weeks, and several weeks to come is focusing on the art of neighboring, meaning being His hand and feet to those who cross our path! Grab your coffee, or your favorite beverage, your Strand of Faith and let’s go tie some knots as we talk about the first principle to good neighboring!

We’ve talked about many characters in the parable of Luke 10:25-37, so now let’s look closely at the Samaritan and what he did for his neighbor in verses 33-36 even though he was the least likely voted to succeed in this endeavor!

He, like the Priest and the Levite, saw the wounded man with his eyes…but when the Samaritan saw him he was filled with compassion, “so he went to him.” Let’s pause here from a second on the keyword “compassion.” This word translated in the Greek means “to be moved inwardly, to be moved with compassion.” In other words, compassion moves us into action. To be moved in such a way, might we first need to have the eyes of our hearts open? In other words, if we were in the parable today, how many of us would walk right by the wounded man and not even see him?

I know when I think of some reasons, aka, excuses for not seeing the nearly dead man in the road, or the homeless guy, or the prostitute on the street who didn’t really want to be a prostitute or the drunken guy on a bench, or someone less fortunate than myself – you get the picture? – would be because perhaps I’m too focused on my own agenda, or maybe I don’t want to bother or be bothered! Perhaps the eyes of our heart need to be opened! In Ephesians 1:17-21 we read that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is our same God, through His Spirit will open the eyes of our hearts and grant us wisdom, revelation that we may know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory and exceeding greatness of His power! Now that’s some eye-opening promise.

I absolutely love what C.S. Lewis says about neighboring: “You are told to love our neighbor as yourself. How do you love yourself? Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

When the eyes of our hearts are truly opened, we can’t help but be moved forward. True compassion doesn’t discriminate; it reaches across all cultures and moves across all religious beliefs. Compassion has no enemies; nor does it have boundaries! Could our first step to true neighboring be praying for compassion, that the yes of our hearts would be open to see? Love is born out of compassion that leads us to desire our neighbor’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained!

Learning to neighbor,

Evinda