Marked With An X

The poorest of the poor, Mother Theresa ministered to them, not just when it was easy, or she felt good, but when they needed it. Who knows how she felt deep down inside herself. I suspect there had to be times when it was very difficult. And yet, I know there is a certain kind of satisfaction to be had by doing the hard thing and doing it well.

I just don’t ever come close to the Mother Theresa kind of devotion. Most of us don’t. We are what we are and that means most of us are trying to be the best “me” we can as we deal with all the other stuff in our lives. If we could just give each other this much credit, the world would be a sweeter and softer place.

I usually find that a person I dislike is someone the world has stereotyped, or someone I really don’t know. Once I get to know them, I am often amazed at how much I really do like and sometimes even love them. People the world has marked with an X can be doing some of the most godly work around. I need to remember that.

The world doesn’t encourage me to be real. It encourages me to conform and the penalty for not doing that can be scorn, or shunning, or even hate. These are the lowest castes in our world, the non-conformers. There isn’t much of an attempt to understand them, or see who they really are by most people. Unless….

Unless they have a lot of money, and/or are famous. Then their non-conformity is considered eccentric, or just bizarre, but never like it would be if they were poor. Somehow, in our country, being poor is considered a sign that something is wrong with you and it just might be catching. Which brings me back to Mother Theresa.

Somewhere the circle is broken and we need to fix it.