Thursday, March 03, 2005
Do No Harm at All
Several years ago we had a visiting minister who said these words at the end of every service. If you have ever heard Havey Starling I'm sure you have heard them.
"May Our Goal in Life Be... To Do All The Good We Can, For As Many As We Can, As Often As We Can, And May God Help Us To Do No Harm At All. "
That statement has stuck with me all of these years.
Last night one of our sisters came before our class stating that harm had been done to her. She has had a year of problems and situations that many of us had felt helpless to do anything about. We had prayed for her often and discussed ways that we could help her. Part of her upheaval has been changing jobs. She now works out of town and someone at her new job told her that stories were circulating about her and some of its origins were possibly ladies in our class. She read a statement to the class and explained some of the behaviors that perhaps had caused the rumors to begin with. I don’t know if we were guilty of talking to others about her. I do know that I have talked with other ladies of the class about how we could or should help her. She did make the excellent point that if we had questions or concerns we should have come to her. How hard is it to know when to do this? We are all such private people and we don’t want to hurt anyone, but when we do hear things about our brothers and sisters should we not immediately assume innocence and talk to them? After she finished, we all told her we were glad she came to us and that we had been worried about her. We then gathered around her with our hands on her and prayed for her and for us. When we get “real” with each other, we can find healing. Had she just harbored resentment and left nobody would have gained. Perhaps if she had trusted enough to be real with us when her problems began we would have known better how to help her. If we had been persistent in trying to find out how we could help, maybe she would have opened up sooner. See, it is a circle. We need each other to complete the circle.
I pray that I learned from this. I pray that God will open my eyes to people who need an encouraging word and a helping hand. I pray that God will help me to have self-control over my words and my thoughts.
"May Our Goal in Life Be... To Do All The Good We Can, For As Many As We Can, As Often As We Can, And May God Help Us To Do No Harm At All. "
That statement has stuck with me all of these years.
Last night one of our sisters came before our class stating that harm had been done to her. She has had a year of problems and situations that many of us had felt helpless to do anything about. We had prayed for her often and discussed ways that we could help her. Part of her upheaval has been changing jobs. She now works out of town and someone at her new job told her that stories were circulating about her and some of its origins were possibly ladies in our class. She read a statement to the class and explained some of the behaviors that perhaps had caused the rumors to begin with. I don’t know if we were guilty of talking to others about her. I do know that I have talked with other ladies of the class about how we could or should help her. She did make the excellent point that if we had questions or concerns we should have come to her. How hard is it to know when to do this? We are all such private people and we don’t want to hurt anyone, but when we do hear things about our brothers and sisters should we not immediately assume innocence and talk to them? After she finished, we all told her we were glad she came to us and that we had been worried about her. We then gathered around her with our hands on her and prayed for her and for us. When we get “real” with each other, we can find healing. Had she just harbored resentment and left nobody would have gained. Perhaps if she had trusted enough to be real with us when her problems began we would have known better how to help her. If we had been persistent in trying to find out how we could help, maybe she would have opened up sooner. See, it is a circle. We need each other to complete the circle.
I pray that I learned from this. I pray that God will open my eyes to people who need an encouraging word and a helping hand. I pray that God will help me to have self-control over my words and my thoughts.
Comments:
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It's definitely something I have to work on - the being real part. It's so much easier on a semi-anonymous computer.
I think for me it hard to know when to say something to the person and when not to. I suppose we need to trust the Spirit's leading? Thanks for the story--I do stand convicted!
JB
JB
Wednesday night was something, wasn't it? I admired her so much for coming out with everything she said. It must have been so difficult for her, and yet she did it in such a non-accusing way. I was so pleased to be amongst all of you fine ladies during that. I really felt God's presence there.
In the last 5 years, I have been involved in a situation where I was both wrong and wronged.
I have tried to gain an audience with a certain brother in Christ so I could tell him how his tone and his words affected me, but he has yet to allow me an audience.
In the meantime, I have not been innocent in harming another, however unintended. I only wish the person whom I had wronged had come to me directly or at least been willing to meet with me with witnesses present. All my attempts to contact this person have failed.
Perhaps soon. It is good to hear about another situation where someone risked opening up and was met with a gracious response bathed in prayer.
Thanks for sharing.
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I have tried to gain an audience with a certain brother in Christ so I could tell him how his tone and his words affected me, but he has yet to allow me an audience.
In the meantime, I have not been innocent in harming another, however unintended. I only wish the person whom I had wronged had come to me directly or at least been willing to meet with me with witnesses present. All my attempts to contact this person have failed.
Perhaps soon. It is good to hear about another situation where someone risked opening up and was met with a gracious response bathed in prayer.
Thanks for sharing.
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