Greetings Dear Reader,
Who do you admire? It
may take some thought or someone may come to mind instantly. The problem is that eventually, those we
admire do not live up to our expectations.
We admire people and they let us down even if they do not mean to do so.
Everyone, even the best of us fails. It is not people we are
supposed to admire. It is deeds that are
what we should look up to and admire.
Yes, we associate people with those deeds. We ought to honor people when they do
admirable things. We get in danger of
disillusionment, however, when we set expectations relative to people.
It is possible that we ponder admirable people more than we
ponder admirable deeds. We want to be
like him or her rather than wanting to be like that. It is good to take our example from people
who do admirable things. It is vital
that we emulate the deeds from our hearts instead of putting someone on a
pedestal. We do people a disservice when
we raise them up. They cannot sustain
it. We cannot long hold them there. It is not where we are supposed to stand.
When we ponder admirable deeds, however, we can find many
sources from which to choose. We can
look across a spectrum of others who set the example of admirable deeds,
thought, and words. You will find that
there are many ways to do that which is admirable.
The motivation for something admirable must though come from
the right source. The motivation must
come from our love. It is the required
foundation of the things that led to admirable deeds. If love is not the foundation of our actions
then the admirable deed may benefit others but we are not being admirable. We are going to fail and perhaps taint that
which is admirable if we do not act out of love for others.
My great failures all began with the desire to show love to
others. I was speaking with someone who
knows me well about this. I mentioned
that what I wish in every encounter is for others to see the love Christ has
for him or her. Without hesitation, she
said, “You always start that way.” The
love and kindness in her voice was reassuring and helped me see more clearly.
She meant it and I do.
The problem comes when I allow the admiration to become what I wish
instead of the person seeing the love of Christ. I transfer the attention from the deed to
me. This is where my failure begins. This is where I stop thinking on the
admirable and lose sight of the foundation of love.
I have had several encounters of late where I get to show
the love of Christ to others without attention being drawn to me. Being able to walk away before I am too
involved and dependent upon admiration is very freeing. It helps me understand one of the reasons why
it is admirable to do good deeds in secret.
What things do you admire Dear Reader? How do you go about doing good things and
what is your motivation for doing it? If
we agree that our love is the foundation for our thoughts and deeds then perhaps,
we can learn to ponder the admirable and act on it without calling attention to
ourselves.
We should discuss this further as we journey along. I want to hear what inspires admiration in
you and how you think on admirable things.
Perhaps you can help me refine the ways I can keep myself out of the
mix. Please share your thoughts with me.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
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