My latest at Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly.
An excerpt focusing on not helping others:
Coupled with this, making it even easier to zip along on our merry way — as if we needed to make it easier for ourselves — is another far-less-than-helpful catchphrase: “pull yourself up by your bootstraps."
Never mind that it’s unclear where that little chestnut originated or how one is supposed to pull oneself up by bootstraps, those leather loops on the backs or sides of some boots.
Instead, consider this: Did you ties your shoes today? (Now, now, no smart-alecky remarks about how you’re wearing slip-ons. What are you, a middle schooler?)
Yes, you tied your shoes. And how did you learn to do that? Someone taught you. Patiently, probably. That someone didn’t look down on you (literally as well as figuratively) and say: “God never gives you more than you can handle. Have a nice day!”And one more:
The crosses we or others have to bear are meant to be shared. The God of love doesn’t want any of us to have to go it alone.
