Recently I discovered a wonderful poem entitled “ The Universal Prayer” by Alexander Pope.  In the tenth stanza Pope writes:

“Teach me to feel another’s woe, To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.”

Perhaps Pope was inspired by Luke chapter 18 which mirrors his poem.

“ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ’God I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God” ( Luke 18: 9-13 NIV)

We should be very careful how we interact with our fellow travelers, for we are interacting with the personification of Jesus.  How we treat others is how we treat Jesus.  “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col. 3:13).

Weighed in the Balances

By Lou David Allen

He fed the hungry,

Visited the sick,

Gave his money,

For a great cause.

But warm works

Came from a cold heart,

That would not

Forgive the sins of another,

And so he barely registered

On the Angelic Applause – O – Meter.

“And he measured its wall,

seventy-two yards, according to

human measurements, which are also

angelic measurements.

Rev 21:17

Hummingbirds regularly come to our feeder outside the window to partake of the “goodie juice” we provide.  The feeder can be seen by Rhoda and me from our respective vantage points.  We alert each other as visitors arrive, usually unexpectedly, and they leave almost the same way.  One must be on one’s toes to see them, for hummingbirds don’t stay long.

We have noticed an interesting thing about hummingbirds.  When they approach the feeder and if a wasp is there, they don’t land, or if they do and see a wasp they quickly fly away.  Wasps like hummingbird feeders too and apparently like to sting the hummingbirds, or at least the hummingbirds think they do.  When no wasps are at the feeder, the birds land and drink away.  At this very moment, a hummingbird has come for its morning refreshment and refreshed itself.  Why did it stay?  Because there was no wasp there, it had no fear at the feeder!  The hummingbirds have a rule – wasp at the feeder – fly away – wasp not at the feeder – stay and enjoy the gift of the feeder.

Why can’t people be as wise as the hummingbirds?  Some not only don’t fly , in our case, don’t run from an obvious danger.  They fall for Satan’s overtures and often do not see the spider until they’re caught firmly in the web.  Shakespeare said in his great play, The Merchant of Venice, “There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on its outward parts”.  If you have read my other works you know that I am a poet and like to use my poems to illustrate a point.  I would like to take that opportunity again in this essay and include a poem I wrote some time ago which I think is germane to today’s topic.

POKER MAN

Why do you condemn this, that’s in?

Why do you maintain it’s a sin?

Why do you stand so hard

Against a little game of cards?

You can’t prove it’s wrong to me

For I’ve closed my eyes and cannot see

That something is amiss

And I can’t hear the serpent’s hiss.

Have you wondered about the guy wandering the highways with the  backpack and run down shoes?  Where’s he going? Where’s he from? Where’s he spending the night,? Is it in a pasture under a  tree?  And how does he  keep warm in the winter? What does he eat and where does he get his water? Who would chose a life with such self imposed deprivation? Who would chose to be homeless?

But people who would never chose to live their physical lives like that make choices  putting them in the same situation spiritually. Jude, verse 13, refers to ungodly individuals who are described as “wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever”. The most tragic thing that can  happen to a human being is to disconnect from God, in computer terminology, “disconnected from the network”.

Several years ago I observed men traveling down the Interstate Highway that cuts through our little town and  wrote a poem about a fictitious man I called “Johnee”.  I hope you enjoy it and see how it describes  an absolute disconnect.

Johnee

by David Allen

They found him last night,
wrapped in his sleeping
blanket. Out on the Interstate,
dead as a hammer, stiff as
a  board.  Died sometime
in the night, all alone, all
by himself.

No I.D., only, “ My name
is Johnee”,  tattooed on his
chest.

Where was he from? Where
was he going?

Well, he’s not going anywhere,
anymore. And somewhere, long
ago, someone bounced him on
their knee
and said,
“ Oh, Johnee, you’ll
go far in this world”.

But, this, this was too far,
Way too far.

Johnee lost his way. The way home grew so dim he could no longer see it. The darkness overcame him and he died. Johnee disconnected. Are you connected?