So these past few days, it has been really enlightening to come to grips with why and how I am loving (or at least learning to love). Am I loving my neighbor so that they will love me back? Am I helping that homeless gal because without me she’ll suffer? Am I living my life in a timeline, here-to-there, ends-justify-the-means worldview? Or am I willing to just love right now without judging if I “reach” others or not?

This article from a recent magazine published by the Christian Science Publishing Society really highlighted for me what seeing with true, unrestricted love can look like. I think that truly loving my neighbor will show me how we are not separate little beings walking around.

Last week I had an opportunity to meet with a friend of mine who’s a pastor for a small ‘home church’ in town. He thinks of himself as a fundamentalist Christian, and I haven’t had a very charitable view of fundamentalists ever since college when one of my Resident Assistants just wouldn’t leave me alone! But I was determined to just go and love and be willing to see what love was like, in that coffee shop, without an agenda of any kind. And it was a FANTASTIC time. I left with a truly humbled and illumined view of others and a great sense of respect for the devotion of this pastor. It sounds small now, but it was revolutionary for me to be able to sit in that coffee shop and be able to talk and listen freely about beliefs and lives with this man. I have been so afraid to talk to fundamentalists and now that fear is wiped away. I went to love, and all I know is that I was loved.

So, I write this now not even meant to be a direct reply to you, my friend, but rather out of gratitude that this greater awareness of LIVING has become clearer to me. I’m not, and never will, post here to try to convince someone of anything, but I am so grateful to be able to share what LIVING these Radical Acts has meant for me, and to be able to read how your lives are glowing as well. It’s a pleasure and privilege to be with you!

1. When Jesus returns to Nazareth, he ends up leaving in disgust after the majority of the crowd fails to recognize anything in him higher than a carpenter’s son.
2. The pool of Bethesda was not small — there would have been thousands of sick folk there, each looking for healing, yet Jesus only healed one of them. Why just the one? Perhaps because he was the only one willing to look away from the mesmeric promise of that pool.
3. In Herod’s court, Jesus shunned all of Herod’s questions. He literally gave him the silent treatment.

At the end of the day, the fact is that we’re not going to reach everyone, as you know. Still, I think erring on the side of your suggestion, by actively seeing everyone we encounter as “worthy,” is definitely the way to go. It reminds me of S&H 476:32-4. Err on the side of worthiness.

So what if we didn’t try to find a balance between bad and good? Bad can’t exist along with good – otherwise it’s not good.

What if the real command here is to make sure that I don’t think I’m giving what is holy to an unworthy individual, but rather that I know I am giving to one of God’s beloved children? What if the command is to fix my OWN thought, and is not an injunction against certain other people?

Really, how can we love if we think that others are unworthy?

No story to post yet, but I just wanted to share this inspiration and would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks so much for being here – I’m really glad to be in this community with you.

Today, as I read Paul’s closing question on his story, I realized that I don’t need to waste one more second wondering (or even fearing) if they felt the impact of my help.  I’m learning, in my prayers for myself – for matters of health, friendships, finances, purpose… – that I don’t need to consult my body (or whatever the situation may be) to find out if or how I need to pray.  Instead, I want to cultivate a sense of always turning to God, of cherishing my nature as God’s idea, so much that I naturally pray because I am with God and I know it. So, likewise, if I’m striving to love my neighbor as myself, I can extend the same confidence to them – let them so naturally be included in my prayers and love that there just won’t be a question of effectiveness.

That consistency of acknowledging God doesn’t leave room for worrying if I’m going to be able to help, or to help appropriately.  At this point, this is definitely just me sharing the new way I’m thinking about this, and I don’t have a ‘story’ yet…but I know I have never felt this confident before about my ability to love all my neighbors and I am excited to see what opportunities this confidence illuminates.  And in looking back, the times I have been of effective help to others was absolutely simply an outgrowth of that natural feeling of oneness with God…and why WOULDN’T I treat this person in such and such a way?  I’ll share more about those later but I’m really grateful for this new insight and to see what I can see along the way!

Hopefully you and your colleagues can make use of an exciting new feature on this site:  Radical Acts/the Game.  I can see you pulling cards in a staff meeting, or even at your holiday party!

Donating money is certainly not the only, or most important, way of giving. And we don’t have to wait on money in order to be able to give right now. In fact, the true root of the word philanthropy means “love of people,” or “love of humankind.” That means philanthropy can be a full-time calling, for each one of us, right now.

I lead a website that helps people give of themselves, both their money and volunteer time, so I am acutely aware of these issues. But one of the thoughts that has come to me is that my “job in philanthropy,” most certainly doesn’t start at 9 am and end at 5 pm. If we follow the definition of philanthropy above, that means our every moment can be an opportunity to care for, love and cherish another fellow human being.

One day I had a pivotal experience that helped me be a better ‘daily philanthropist.’ Each day I make a thoughtful ‘to do’ list with which I hope to carry out my purpose. The list might range from cultivating a large corporate partnership, to an errand at the drycleaners. There was a nice sense of satisfaction in checking off these items.

During this day, I found myself particularly busy. I rushed into the drycleaners. I swooped in to pick up my clothes and leave a bundled pile of clothes to be processed. There, I had fit it in before a meeting. I had gotten one more item off my list! Accomplishment, I thought; and yet I didn’t feel it.

What I realized is that the dry cleaners wasn’t an errand. It was an opportunity to love. We aren’t programmed to just get through life and get things done. Instead, each activity, each to-do, each task, is actually an experience of loving. That is the true spirit of philanthropy.

As one great thinker wrote, a person “…is a marvel, a miracle in the universe….With selfless love, he inscribes on the heart of humanity and transcribes on the page of reality the living, palpable presence - the might and majesty! - of all goodness. He lives for all mankind.”  Rushing in and out of the dry cleaners, I had missed a valuable opportunity. What I needed to do was connect with my dry cleaners, know them by name, greet them warmly, and sincerely ask how they are doing. Now I know how Hao is doing, and we have a great relationship of warmth and kindness. :)  I look forward to our visits. I’ve now found philanthropy exists at the drycleaners.

With the Holiday season of philanthropy upon us, we can each strive to care more sincerely for each person we meet.  By our simple interaction and communication with each person, every moment, we can all be ‘immediate’ philanthropists. Love - philanthropy - simply doesn’t wait.