Life: Be Involved

Be involved in life!  And you say, "I am."  You golf, hike, fish and garden; right?  But, are you truly involved in life?  Are you paying attention to the life around you or are you just performing a sport or a task?  

Example:  On the second day of my trip to Mississippi, as night was falling in the mountains, I happened upon a pretty brutal auto accident miles from medical help.  Luckily it happened in a very small town and there was a fire truck onsite.  A volunteer fireman was directing traffic.  I pulled off to see if there was something I could assist with.  What in God's name did I think I could do?  Be involved.

I could have driven by in order to facilitate the volunteer firemen doing their job.  I could have not paid attention, except as an anecdotal piece of fluff to color my trip tales with.  Or, I could see if the victim required spiritual help, as well.  I never used to think of such things.  I have come to understand my worse fear, that of dying alone.  But, there were firemen onsite, you say.  Not the same as being with this person as they waited for the ambulance, or death.  They want to feel the hand that is holding theirs is doing more than going through the motions.  Could I have performed last rites?  If need be I could have prayed with them, blessed them, and helped them pass through.  It is more than could have been done considering where we were.  As it turns out, she was just pinned in the vehicle and needed to be extricated.  I don't think I could have performed extrication.

I was happy I wasn't needed.  This sort of thing is out of my comfort zone.  Not that I couldn't have done what was needed, but I have a real problem with empathy.  I feel another person's pain just looking at them, much less holding their hand, so maintaining composure would be the tough part.  The point being made here, though, is I was ready and willing to be involved in life.  In as much as Death is a part of death, so life is a part of death.

It wasn't but minutes further down the highway I saw a train moving through the shadows of the mountain as the CD player began Alison Krauss softly singing a bluegrass spiritual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv3WSrZ-9bM&feature=kp

"A Living Prayer"

In this world I walk alone with no place to call my home

But there's one who holds my hand

The rugged road through barren lands

The way is dark, the road is steep

But He's become my eyes to see

The strength to climb, my griefs to bear

The Savior lives inside me there

In your love I find release

A haven from my unbelief

Take my life and let me be

A living prayer my God to thee

In these trials of life I find

Another voice inside my mind

He comforts me and bids me live

Inside the love the Father gives

In your love I find release

A haven from my unbelief

Take my life and let me be

A living prayer my God to thee

take my life and let me be

A living prayer my God to thee 

My mind went to an image of the "long, black, train" that was going to be denied a passenger this day.

I smiled.

Sometimes it isn't enough to just see something.  Sometimes life requires you to be involved.  Sometimes God requires that we do our jobs as each other's keeper.  Sometimes we need to take a knee and talk to the person in the wheelchair, the physically or mentally handicapped, and the elderly.  We need to be involved with assisting those around us with loading a vehicle, or taking a grocery cart back inside for them, or picking them up when they fall.  Buy the crying child a fifty cent balloon, even if they aren't yours.  Ask the crying man what "it's" all about.  It is not enough to just sit on the sidelines and gawk. As human beings it is incumbent upon us to constantly be involved in the life we are witness to.