Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Why Do You Care?

Why do you care? Why do you invest energy and affection in so many people whose lives have become important to your own? Why do you care about their health or their family or their welfare? Why do you care?

Is there any payback? Does there need to be? Why do you care?

Caring offers an emotional response to another. It is even well known in the animal world, and certainly among pets. Caring stretches from the heart and soul to reach into that of another. Its expressions are as numerous as there are stars in the sky. Caring means you have found and tapped that magical emotion that allows you to be compatible with others. It feeds on the very joy and satisfaction of being present to another. Its reward is caring itself.

There is a site called CaringBridgeJournal.com which gives opportunity to be in touch by email with persons who are undergoing life threatening illnesses. It is a means to be in touch with regularity, with persons who need to know someone cares.

There are programs within local churches which give one on one occasion to “be” with others. Stephen’s Ministry is an outreach program, principally designed to connect care givers with care receivers.

There are other programs, some localized, others that have national connections. These give a structured means for showing care and exercising compassion. Connecting with one or another of these options provides the means to keep your caring heart and muscles strong. Likely, it also adds to the stamina of the person with whom you are making yourself available.

Beside helping your own life to be more fulfilling, caring will grow into a routine that opens up the chance for others to learn how to care. Even the ill, who feel beset by their own troubles and needs, can find ways to be care givers at the same time they are receiving care. Wholeness is experienced when life is given the gift of Caring!

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