why do you fuss so?

this was brewing in me and was written before i received yesterday’s two sentences that reached in and grabbed my heart and stomach.

over the past few years i have learned to surround myself with things i find comforting and pleasurable and good to me. within this shell i have grown, but perhaps in a different way from what i would prefer. we all know that it is through bearing burden that one’s spirit grows to be strong, flexible, and agile. i’ve a feeling that my spiritual growth has been more the flabby kind. i don’t want to be all big and useless.

i don’t want to hurt, but i don’t think this is quite right either.

do you surround yourself with people who are just like you? why? are your problems bothersome but still trivial? what i mean is, do you have food to eat and clothes to wear? a job that pays money? people in your life who love you? are you safe? are you free? are you healthy? then what are your problems? why do you fuss so? i know people who don’t have these things. spending time with them has shown me how trivial my perceived problems are and how spiritually rich and capable of handling life they can be. they are more likely to be spiritually healthy.

my challenge for all today is to go out and help one another bear each others’ burdens. why? otherwise you will not grow. not in the right way.

i cheat. my day job is to help heal the sick. that’s really kind of a shallow way to do it. i invest time and energy and emotion, and it is hard and it is a sacrifice, but it’s nothing like the sacrifice of bearing their burdens along with them.

i’ve been thinking about this because over the past few days my personal issues have re-appeared and started to bring me down. trivial issues. it’s so easy to get caught up in them. but SO not worth my time or emotional investment. and i’m not going to write about them, because they’re not worth yours either.