Please Share

I often read things that I think are going to be beneficial for others’ well-being and I ask my friends on Facebook or my followers on Twitter to “Please share.” This can have a double meaning. It certainly means, please pass this on. But it also means share yourselves with others. Share your heart, your love…

Sometimes we get bad news and we just don’t know what to do with it, we don’t know how to process it. That happened to me this morning. The details don’t matter nor would I share without the consent of the friend who told me. But I was just thinking earlier this morning that life is so short! It is, people! If you are below, say, 40, you probably don’t believe me. But you get to a point, as the body starts to slow down, and you start seeing gray hair and some crows feet around the eyes, not to mention your own kids turning into productive adults with their own lives, goals, and interests beyond the family, where you realize how quickly time sped by.

I used to joke (I heard it somewhere; didn’t make it up) that “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. It goes faster as you near the end.” It usually gets a chuckle. So, thanks to whatever comedian told that joke, whoever you are! But the basic fact is true. Time is passing more quickly the older I get. And so we need to spend our time here on things that matter. And we need to love and support one another, for Heaven’s sake!

The most important word there is “love,” of course. As so famously stated, “Love wills the good of the other as other.” Thomas Aquinas said it and his perfect example, our perfect example, is Jesus. Jesus went through everything He endured during His passion and death, for you and me. Such was His love for our everlasting happiness, such was His desire to have us with Him eternally.

If you’re having a tough time, look to the Cross of Christ. Not only did He suffer and die for you, it reminds us of how much He loved us and loves us still. And He’s not just loving us from afar in Heaven, wherever that is (we really can’t comprehend that right now). He is living within you! And if He’s not, He wants to! He’s just waiting for you to ask Him in. Once there, He will abide and He will give you strength, peace, and joy you didn’t know was possible. Even amidst the pain and incredible challenges of this earthly life.

The other thing to consider is the Baptized are members of the Body of Christ. And that is intentional on the Lord’s part. He wants us to be in community with one another. He MADE us that way! We are social beings and yearn for that communion. So, make sure you turn toward others to let them know you care and so they can show you how much they care about you!

I’m listening to Jeremy Camp’s “Healing Hand of God” right now and it’s a perfect message to share with those of us who are struggling with any sort of bad news. Talk to a friend about it, including your Divine Friend, Jesus. His yoke is easy; His burden light. He wants you to bring it to Him so He can help. Because He really does will our good above all else.

And remember that we are the hands and feet, the ears and the voice of God now. “Christ has no body, but yours,” St. Teresa of Avila reminds us. So, while spiritually God reaches out His hand, and that can have a  profound impact on our lives, the hand of God may be the hand of someone else you know or meet who is loving  you the way Jesus loves us. Once you experience that love with which Jesus loves, please share.