Who Cares?!?

Epiphany: I care too much. I care about things that don't matter. I care about events in time and spaces that are beyond my locust of control. I care about people who are not directly linked to me in any way, shape, form, or fashion. I care about what I eat. I care about who I spend my time with. I care about what others think about me. I care about my job. I care about my students. I care about my skin. I care about my appearance. I care...too much.

Caring is a great quality. When done right, caring can really allow you into a deep spiritual space. Caring is not a reciprocal thing either. People who care don't say, "I care about this person because they care about me." Quite often, it's the exact opposite. People who care for and about others are often mistreated and not cared for themselves.

However, there comes a time when caring has to be de-constructed. What do you care about and why? Are the things you care about the things of God or the things of man? Looking at my list above, you can tell that most of my cares are not of God. They have a lot of earthly weight, but no heavenly matter. Quiet as its kept, I could stand to care a lot less.

Now I'm not saying be careless and heartless and unloving. I am saying to decrease the amount of things that I find "worthy" of my care, to limit what I allow myself to care about. You see, the more time we spend caring about the trivial things, the less intensity and sincerity with which we care about the major things.

Think about it like a Care Account at the local Love Bank. You pinch a little off that account here and there for little things like: make up, car type, a friend's ongoing issue, a child's struggle in school, the boss from hell! Soon enough, you've depleted that care account. But then, something major happens. Something huge enough for you to care about immensely- a friend is walking in a blessed season and needs help/support, a spouse is in a tough spot at work and needs encouragement, the church is trying to schematically increase the activity of youth, the community is seeking answers for violence. These are the types of things we should care about, but we don't have enough left in our accounts to give.

The Word tells us to not grow weary in doing good. If that's the case, we have to limit the care so that we can sustain it for those people/things that really matter. From a biblical perspective, what should consume our care is actually less "whats" and more "whoms". We are instructed to care for orphans, the weak, the sick, widows, and children. We are commanded to provide for our households. We are expected to care about heavenly things and not earthly ones. So, if we take that perspective, we could maybe all do a slight overhaul in the care department-eliminating those things that we simply don't have room for so that we keep our Care Account full enough for what really, truly matters. Be Blessed. XOXO