One Thing

ONE THING

by

Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (August 9

"And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all" (St. Luke 6: 17-19, King James Version [Sermon on the Plain]).

Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,

My brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus I asked, Lord just one thing---just do one thing for me in my life. In seeking the good of man my faith led me to feed the sheep of Christ Jesus as he asked us to but not only as I perceived but also in reflection of the perceptions of others in faith, as the one body received great revelations of light. I contemplated the thoughts of others in Bible Class---their choices of Christ Jesus' words---the one thing that spoke to the whole of their lives---that represented the whole of each of their journeys---where God brought them to, where they wanted God to walk with them to---where they are right now in their life. When I thought about Christ Jesus and my relationship with him, oftentimes, true to form, the most recent experience in my life pushed my past memories out of sight but not out of mind, nevertheless, I seemingly reflected on a far better understanding of judging the words and actions of my brothers and sisters, in Christ; I did not want to be hypocritically-inclined, in my nature with one standard of behavior for myself and a separate standard of behavior for others:

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in your brother's eye, but perceivest

not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother,

Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest

not the beam in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine

own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's

eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree

bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do

not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the

good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of

the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of

the heart his mouth speaketh"(St. Luke 6: 41-45, KJV [Christ Jesus is a good tree]).

Most importantly, my thoughts in reflection of the verses read in Bible Class took me to a day in my past when I journeyed to visit my brother in Christ---I asked him for money to purchase gas but he refused me. I recalled my younger brother in Christ , God bless his soul said he could not understand why he refused me when he gave to the women who came along their way. This story is about raising the consciousness to the spiritual plane of reasoning. I guess he reasoned his thoughts to gain the advantage in competition for the same reason the man who wanted to cut others out of the bread line did. It made me think about that man and how he said to everyone he witnessed to on the streets, in church, in the neighborhoods to give only to the poor, not to anyone with any means of taking care of themselves, especially if they had family and even to make their wives pay them for everything they could possibly get out of them [Was he targeting women more than men but those with jobs and resources remained in the bread line needing more than they could afford?].

I think Job's experience illustrated this struggle to dwell in a strong conscious to bridge over troubled waters. Is it possible to hold on to your brothers and sisters when you hit hard times when they have only known you to always be highly blessed and highly favored and never saw you in the hands of God---God using you to teach others mercy and kindness, to be ever vigilant in long-suffering and patience waiting for God's love to pull you through when others failed to receive you in good faith or failed to anticipate your needs and supply your needs? As I reflected, all of a sudden I knew I had to thank Christ Jesus for standing for me in the valley of the shadow of doubt. To climb up the mountain of faith is hard while you practiced good faith believing you are what you hope to become when the refrigerator did not remain as full as you wanted it to be and guests were at the door, you were too busy working hard to keep the lights on and the bills paid to give to the needy, your raise in pay was caught up in paperwork, you did not have the money you needed to pay for the test you needed to get a higher paying job, the car you picked out was still at the dealership waiting for you to purchase it, and you did not have the money you needed to enjoy your holidays as you wanted or you did not have the money you needed to give to receive. For me, the revelation of light was a constant respect for love.