JC's helper: Family, fulfillment and feeling good

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Family, fulfillment and feeling good

The family when we were a lot younger.

Family
All my children are over 30 now, adults with their own spouses or partners. My oldest child has a birthday today, so last night she, her husband, my youngest son and his fiancee came for an evening meal. It was the first time the fiancee had been at our house so my daughter and son began showing her family photos and chatting about the family events the photos revealed. Then we rang the son in Edinburgh, Scotland and skyped with son, daughter in law and grand daughter in Auckland. As I sat there the phone and computer got handed around. There was good natured bantering going on. The kids were interested in each other and chatted with warmth and humour. I looked and listened and felt pleased and proud. Here was a family who loved, accepted and cared for one another. I was not the most consistent dad. My wife was always the loving level headed caring mum. But either my kids are resilient or somehow we did something right, they are turning out to be fine men and women with a beautiful variety of personality. For that I am thankful. I have no doubt that like me they will have their moments. I hope and pray that they will continue to find love, growth and fulfillment. ... at the moment I could leave this life and feel good about the family I've helped shape.
Chatting
Today shortly after 8 a.m. I hit the office and at around 6 p.m. I was back at the office to pack up and go home. I did not really stop "working" all day. I have had heaps of conversations during the day. I am learning that being a chairman of a group is not just facilitating meetings, but chatting with members of the Trust, picking their brains and assisting them to do their thing - about two hours were spent chatting with Night Shelter Trust Board members. I enjoy the company of like minded people. An hour was spent chatting about working-with-people issues with a social work student on fieldwork placement with me. I came to realise much of what I have learned has happened through trial and error and reflection on that. I also chatted with ambulance staff, the city's street sweeper (he's going to buy me some cholesterol reducing nuts - lovely guy!) other guests in Space2B, and firefighters. Just now after my evening meal I nearly fell asleep in front of the fire. I have some more reading for sermon preparation to do before I go to bed. I am still distracted by health issues but - I believe, so far, I have made a difference for good today. I'm pleased about that!

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Blog's title

I am a Workplace Chaplain to the NZ fireservice.

At the firestation every time one man sees me he yells, "Here comes JC's helper!". I guess I am happy to be called just that... "Jesus' helper". I am a follower of Jesus.
A a quote from Dave Andrews in his book, "Not Religion but Love".
"Being a devotee of Jesus is not a matter of subscribing to a certain set of dogmas, obeying rules and regulations, and getting others to subordinate themselves to them.

The essence of being a devotee of Jesus is to live in sympathy with God as Jesus did; feeling the throb of God's heartbeat, and teaching our hearts to learn to beat in sync with the love that sustains the universe.

It means developing our capacity to sense intuitively what causes love pleasure, and what causes love pain, and doing everything we can to enhance the pleasure, and diminish the pain."

I love this charter.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.