Praise The Lord For Blessings, & Pray For Those Who Are Hurting

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6:8); ‘We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.’ (Romans 15:1)

I have had a window in my office for the last half of my career, and now I do as well in retirement.  I did not have the luxury of looking out of a window in the first half of my career, as holding a security clearance meant working in secure locations, usually underground or in basements, or in buildings with no windows in them.  There were many days when I walked into my office in the pre-dawn hours and walked out well after sunset, and never saw the sun at all, except for the weekends when I was at home (especially after 9/11). 

It was actually a little strange at first when I moved into our regional headquarters office in downtown Tampa, and the office I had looked out over a street to another high rise across it.  There was enough sun to glare in through the window in the afternoon.  Later, when the office moved into a location near the Tampa airport, off Rocky Point, I had an office with an outstanding view overlooking the waters of ‘gnarly’ Tampa Bay, with downtown Tampa in the far distance. 

While most of the time I faced away from the view, occasionally, I’d stop what I was doing, turn around (usually hitting the support pillar to my left) and look toward the Howard Frankland and Gandy bridges (to gauge the amount of traffic I would be facing when I would return home), and closer in, look for the occasional dolphin jumping in the water, or some bird diving in to catch a fish.

Today, my ‘office’ is in my house; our son’s former bedroom turned into the hub of activity that I pretend is work, now that I have retired from active work.  It actually has been my personal office for quite a while, especially when COVID sequestered all of us home. I never did, except on rare occasions, go back to my office overlooking the ‘gnarly Bay’, but worked from my home office until I retired last year.

I can emphasize with those who are now being told they must now go back and work in their company’s offices.  Seeing the handwriting on the wall, I did not want to do so, and fortunately the Lord provided for me the means to step away.  Having great empathy for those who must return to the office, as I look out on a clear sunny day with warm temperatures outside I as type this, I also have empathy for those who are now suffering from the continuing winter weather in parts north of us. 

I can also relate to those who are suffering mid-winter flooding, as I have looked out the same window after several of our hurricanes to see our street flooded from the excessive rains (though the temperatures were a bit warmer).  This winter season brought snow for the first time in a long time in the Florida panhandle, early flooding in the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, and deepening snow fall in the New England states.  Old Punxsutawney Phil apparently got the forecast right for everyone else but us.

While I can relate with those who are currently dealing with the floods, we may not relate to those suffering from Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of six more weeks of a cold and snowy winter.  Likewise, a rich person may not be able to relate to someone who is struggling to put food on the table, or American Christians unable to relate to the level of persecution our brothers and sisters are going through elsewhere around the globe.  But God does make it clear we should have empathy for those who are suffering, or who are less fortunate. 

There are things people go through that we cannot possibly relate to; being an only child (essentially) I cannot relate to having siblings who share childhood experiences like many of you.  But I can understand and empathize when a sibling you have is sick or not doing well and you are hurting because of it.  We may not know what persecution really is, or what true hunger really is, but we can recognize the despair others are in, and do what is right to help them, through our actions, both direct (provide shelter and food) and indirect (pray to God for them, donate money & goods, make others aware). 

Jesus showed us empathy while he also came to relate to what the human experience was; he had not yet experienced death firsthand upon the cross when in John 11 Jesus empathized with the family of Lazarus who had died, and wept with them.  He gave them comfort, and then he gave them back Lazarus, bring him back to life.  He empathized with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4; Jesus was not a Samaritan, not a woman and never experienced sin yet He sat down with her and gave her the message of His gift of salvation.  Jesus did not have to come to Earth, he did not have to raise Lazarus from the grave, and he did not have to talk to the Samaritan woman yet he did all this at his expense.

A couple items to remember; one day we may experience the deep freeze here in sunny southwest Florida, we may suffer persecution or hunger; pray that those who are not suffering take compassion on us as we are (or should be) doing for them in their time of need.  If that day never comes, praise our Lord and be strong and pray for those who are suffering, and as Jesus’ examples show us, take the time not to do something for self but to do something for them.