The Not-So-Golden Rule
A thought occurred to me this morning… yes, it happens sometimes. 
Since I was a little boy, I’ve been taught the Golden Rule:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
But looking back on it, I think it was almost always in a negative context, ie, “Don’t do anything to anyone else that you wouldn’t want done to yourself.”
“Stop hitting your sister… remember the Golden Rule!”
“Don’t say mean things about him. You wouldn’t like that, now would you?”
Interesting, isn’t it, how we always tend to put a negative spin on things, especially things we mis-quote from the Bible?
I wonder just how much better off the world would be if we actively sought out ways to do for other people what we would love to have done for ourselves. If we could just stop being so self-absorbed for a few minutes, we might just discover that there are plenty of things we could do for others without hardly any effort at all. Rather than sitting around, wishing someone would notice OUR need, why don’t we practice taking note of others’ needs around us… especially in this Season?
So why not take a minute, sit back, close your eyes and think about what you would most like for someone else to do for you.
Got it?
Now, who is there in your life that YOU could do that very same thing for?
After all, what we give to another, we’ve given to ourselves, right?
Filed under: Musings |
Tags: giving, giving ideas, holiday ideas, serving, spirituality
Excellent point and idea!
I’ve noticed recently that what we call Christianity is incredibly negative. No wonder few people are interested in it’s message.
Even in this time when we celebrate the GOOD News of ‘Peace and goodwill toward men’ (from God TO man), it seems that Churchianity still clings to the negative ideas of judgment and division among men. How ironic.
Your suggestion is an excellent way to start breaking this mentality of “I’m more deserving than you are, because I’ve accepted Jesus.” If we truly ‘get’ the message of Christmas, we will indeed want to see others more blessed than we are. That’s the reason behind all the Christmas gifts we give, isn’t it?
How can we say, “Merry Christmas” to someone and then in our religious mind consign them to eternal hell? We should ‘do’ unto others as we would want them to do unto us - love and accept us, not judge and condemn us.
Merry Christmas!