and the least of these . . .

There are three kinds of people in my life.  One is the person who I simply have business with.  We relate on a superficial level dealing only with the situation at hand.

Another is the sort of person who grabs my heart.  Sweet and funny, looking for the best part of whatever is at hand.

And then there are those people who seem to thrive on difficulty.  They don't seem to really want solutions because changing things would leave them bereft of a whole way of life.  Good hearted, but oblivious of their part in that world of woe, they march valiantly on doing the same dysfunctional things over and over and over.  These people wear me out.

I am close to both of the last two.  I sometimes wonder how they see me?  A huge part of my foundation was to be a long suffering noble person, so I know I fall back on that occasionally.  But I do try to find the more productive, sunnier side.

Why keep leading a thirsty horse to an empty spring?  Because the way to the other one is unknown and scary.  There might be dogs, or wolves and maybe it will be empty too and . . . maybe if the horse ever gets a drink of water he will gallop off and leave me all alone!  And these thoughts are not even in the conscious level of being.  They are simply woven into the frame and fiber of those dying of thirst, filtering out all new ways of being and doing.

Still, I keep offering them cups of water . . .