Being Before Doing

Being Before Doing

 

I’ve written before that Mother Theresa has been, is, and will be one of my heroes.  Selfless, humble, sincere, honest.  She gave her life to the poor of India and in so doing, brought awareness and opened hearts to those individuals who had and have less, live with little, and perhaps hunger for more than just food.

 

Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai is another.  You might remember him for his ministry to people with leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease), who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Molokai.  After sixteen years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, he eventually contracted and died of the disease.

 

Flash forward to present day and those who volunteer to travel to parts of Africa to help those who are suffering and dying from the Ebola virus.  Courageous men and women who, despite the possibility of contracting the disease themselves, they carry on, toil, and give aid and comfort to those who are most vulnerable.  And in that vulnerability, they risk their own health, welfare and well-being.

 

What is it that Mother Theresa, Father Damien, and the doctors and nurses and other care-givers in Africa have that I . . . we . . . don’t have?

 

This summer just before the new school year started, I was given a book, The Joshua Code, written by Dr. O. S. Hawkins.  It is a weekly meditational book that gives a verse of scripture and an explanation of it using everyday life examples.  There is a chapter in the book that is titled, Being Comes Before Doing.

 

Interesting concept: Being Before Doing.

 

It is similar in nature to a concept I learned in graduate school while pursuing my degree in Counseling taught by one of my professors and theorized by psychologist Alfred Adler, who believed that humans use a progression of Think, then Feel, and then Do.  In that specific order.

 

Being Before Doing.  Think, Feel, Do.

 

In very simple layman terms- I am no expert and will never claim to be- I believe that Mother Theresa, Father Damien, and the volunteer caregivers in Africa have a sense of being that they are only a part of the web of life.  They, while small, and perhaps insignificant of and by themselves, together with others, play a large part in the betterment of life, of mankind.

 

Mother Theresa said it much better than I can: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

 

But before Mother Theresa cast the stone to cause a ripple, she and Father Damien and the others had to have had a belief, a sense of being, a sense of purpose to make it possible to cast a stone.  They had to have come to the realization that a bigger purpose, a bigger reason exists to make them want to cast a stone.  They had to have come to the realization that they are a part of the web of life, a part of humanity.  And they saw that they had, and have, a responsibility to make life, and humanity, better. 

 

They had to have come to the realization that giving something to get something does not have a purpose except to satisfy self.  And we’ve all known, and know, individuals who will do and say something to get something, and when they get that something, they leave.  Their “getting” doesn’t help the receiver very much, if at all.

 

So I ask you, what stone will you cast today, and what ripples will you cause?  And beyond that, and perhaps the first consideration should be to ponder the reason and purpose for casting the stone.  Because in the end, as Adler states, we Think, then Feel, and then Do.  Or as Hawkins writes, Being Comes Before Doing.  Something to think about . . .

 

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

 

To My Readers:

I am humbled by the fact that my two books, Taking Lives, the prequel to my “Lives Trilogy” and Stolen Lives, the first book in the trilogy, have not strayed far from the top ten on several of Amazon.com’s lists.  Thank you!  When I put those books out there, my first thought was, ‘Is anyone going to buy them?’ followed shortly thereafter with, ‘Is anyone going to like them?’  Happily, and very humbly, folks like you are buying them and seem to like them, judging by the reviews.  So again I say very sincerely, Thank You!

 

Taking Lives can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Lives-Joseph-Lewis-ebook/dp/B00MG2JAWE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407974964&sr=8-1&keywords=Taking+Lives%2C+Joseph+Lewis

 

Stolen Lives can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Lives-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00PKKN6W4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415927661&sr=1-1&keywords=stolen+Lives%2C+Joseph+Lewis

 

Sincerely,

jl