My Goal in Life

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."
James 1:27


I see how people treat each other. In times of sadness or unlovely circumstances, people often run... either toward or away from the "problem".  It is when they run away that sadness is ramped in the time of pain, and that pain is only intensified. 

Working in Hospice I see sadness all the time. 

As I reflect on this verse, I am often times reminded that I do indeed care for many widows. So many of my patients are alone, and untaken care of. They face their last days isolated, depressed, and in life review that is often times a disappointment or a life that has actually gotten them so sick that hope has been lost.

Now, I must confess... the verse above is all too convicting. ".... and refusing to let the world corrupt you." I am not a bible scholar, and I could be reading something into this... but I do think that there may be a reason that caring for lost souls or forgotten people, can corrupt, and I can see it in my own life.

I feel like I get dirty when I do my job. I become jaded, or have to put up some kind of shield to protect either myself or others. I start to have a sarcastic attitude. My heart begins to forget about the soul that encompasses each one of the people that I tend to. I forget to look past the despondent daughter, or the absent husband, or the unstable son.... yet those are the people that God has placed in my path. I don't know why, maybe to show me part of humanity that is in need of grace, maybe to break me of looking at life in a certain way. But, yesterday all I wanted to do was run. Run away from the pain. Run away from caring. Run to a job or a life calling that has nothing to do with forgotten people.

Have I let the world corrupt me? Has the hopelessness of life bogged me down to the point of loosing my joy. Has God shown me too much sadness to remember what happiness is?

Lord, please take my heart of heaviness and replace it with one of levity. Let me view the world with your eyes. I am sorry when I let the ways of the world discourage me to the point of me wanting to run. Forgive me of forgetting to look at people the way that you do. Please allow my spirit to love caring for people again. Give me the strength to resist being corrupted.