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Setting the Stage for Kindness… Christine McDonald

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Christine "Clarity" McDonald, Uncategorized with tags homeless, hospitality, human trafficking, kindness, sex trafficking on December 20, 2021 by paulthepoke

shallow focus photography of cafe late — Photo by Kevin Menajang on Pexels.com

Continuing the series… If you are an outreach person or a drop–in center worker and have random encounters, it will take many encounters with the same person to build a relationship of trust. Here is a guide and process you can go through at the intake stage that will help set the stage for an organic relationship of kindness.

You are building a relationship organically and verbally, recognizing that they are hurting by offering tissues, water, and maybe special treats that aren’t usually readily available to them. They are seeing you show acts of compassion and kindness. Ask them if they would like to take five minutes before you move on in order to eat or drink and just allow them to breathe. Ask them if they would like you to leave the room for a few minutes, or if they would like you to stay.

Instead of leading off with hugs, try loving the hurting individual by serving them with kindness and a bit of hospitality. For example, you could lead with, “I understand this is difficult; may I get you a cup of tea? Soda?” Keep candy bars in your desk, in a bag, in your car, or in your purse for times like these. A little chocolate, a cup of tea, and a box of tissues can go a long way in helping the person have their space and be allowed to feel what they are experiencing.

Conversations

Don’t force conversations. Instead, ask them after you have given them some time if they would like to talk about anything. Fight the urge to engage further. After all, at this moment of the intake, you are just getting them to open up to a relationship. Don’t force things too early. Don’t probe to get them to talk just because you have a heart that wants to help and is ready to listen. They might not be ready to talk. Although your heart may hurt, you are going to have to fight the urge to hug them and tell them it will be okay. Just remember we are setting the stage for an organic relationship built by the participant, not filling your need to hug and fix!

Contact Information:
Christine C. McDonald
636-487-8986
Christine.CryPurple@gmail.com

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

Through The Eyes of Grace – Christine C McDonald

Christine’s Place Drop-In Center

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Choose Kindness… Featuring Paul Beverly

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Paul Beverly with tags Ephesians 4, Forgiveness, kindness, love, Proverbs 11 on July 26, 2020 by paulthepoke

In a world full of hate, I choose love & kindness. Those who are kind will be rewarded. They will gain love & respect, which is equal to riches to me.

Ephesians 4:12. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Proverbs 11:17. A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

Have a week of kindness my friends!!!

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Glimmers of Hope

Posted in Christine "Clarity" McDonald, Culture with tags compassion, hope, Jesus Christ, kindness, love, Matthew 25 on April 26, 2019 by paulthepoke

Hope simply deals with possibilities. If something is still possible, even in our wildest dreams, if there is still a glimmer of hope, it is worth hanging on to for as long as it exists. —Peter G. Doumit, What I Know about Baseball Is What I Know about Life

In Matthew, Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the kindness and compassion He wants His followers to extend to those around them, particularly those who are often invisible in society. He says, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matthew 25:40, NLT)

Who are “the least of these” today?

Not much has changed since Jesus spoke those words. There are still the “invisibles” around us. They aren’t truly invisible; we just make excuses and justify our choice not to look.

“The least of these” could include a good friend who you know is struggling with something, but whose struggle you’ve not wanted to wade into with them. However, “the least of these” may also include a whole population of society you may not interact with often, or perhaps you only interact with professionally.

Jesus’ expectation of us is to be so full of His love that we love like Him by default. That means we allow our eyes, as well as our hearts, to be moved by compassion to action. Feeling sad or feeling sorry isn’t enough. We must be moved enough to be His hands, His feet, His smile, His words, His deeds.

Compassion is free, except that it demands what’s most valuable, our hearts. We must be careful to not close our hearts off to what we don’t understand. Sometimes the very thing we have guarded and protected most is the thing God purposed for us to share. Perhaps the thing you have tended with care and passion is meant to give hope to someone else.

https://www.gofundme.com/crypurplemovie

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

https://crypurplemovie.com/

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Created to Crave Community… Christine McDonald

Posted in Christine "Clarity" McDonald with tags 2 Corinthians 12, community, Cry Purple, kindness, love, Romans 12 on February 8, 2019 by paulthepoke

Every single day, our lives are filled with opportunities to connect with others in meaningful ways. In times gone by, neighbors were friends who chatted over the backyard fence, played board games on Saturdays, mowed each other’s lawns, and borrowed sugar and eggs. Today we are surrounded by people all the time, yet we exist in a world where we share a mutual unspoken expectation to keep to ourselves. We have separated ourselves from our fellow humans into a world of isolation and superficial contact. Yet we are commanded to love our brother as ourselves.

https://crypurplemovie.com/

What would happen if we defied that isolating expectation and began to notice those we interact with? What could happen if you looked the cashier at the grocery store in the eyes with a smile and asked, with genuine care, how his or her day was going?

God has hardwired us to need one another, to respond in kindness, and to crave community. Somewhere along the line, the church seems to have lost that concept, or at least the fullness of the concept. Paul says in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” We are to be as one. Yes, we are hardwired by God to crave community!

Look around. Who have you trained your eyes to ignore out of discomfort, or even because of things deemed too painful to consider? Those who are different from us (this may include those who are homeless, those who are prostituted, those with disabilities, or those from a different ethnic or socioeconomic background) are sometimes the ones we are most comfortable blinding ourselves to. Yet they are the ones most in need of being seen.

God has promised that His grace is sufficient. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) He has equipped us to see even those we may be afraid to notice. But they need you. And believe it or not, you need them.

Lord, open our eyes to see those you’ve called us to see today. Help us to step out of our comfort zone and look beyond ourselves. Help us to see your passionate love for others in such a way that we are compelled to love in the same way you have loved us.

“Love your neighbor, all of ’em.” -Christine Clarity McDonald

https://crypurplemovie.com/

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Remembering 9/11… Christine McDonald

Posted in Christine "Clarity" McDonald, Culture with tags community, compassion, Galatians, Jesus Christ, kindness, relationship on February 1, 2019 by paulthepoke

Tragedies are just that, tragic. It’s a pity that it takes the extremes in life to bring people together and to remind us that we are all just people—people who, despite our differences, are very much the same. -Susie, New Day New Lesson

Some people believe that God placed the ability to experience loneliness in us so that we would seek Him. Tragedy, chaos, and crisis tend to sift out the meaningless details of life and focus our minds on what matters. Even
when faced with the possibility of death, death frightens us less than dying alone.

Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

What is this law of Christ?

Galatians 5:14 “For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

We were made for community, for relationship, for companionship, and for connection. We weren’t meant to live in a state of aloneness.

What would it look like to live in relationship all the time? What if we lived each breath with compassion? What if it didn’t take extreme circumstances to arouse kindness and compassion within us? What if we allowed ourselves to experience those feelings all the time? What if we connected with others in meaningful ways on a daily basis?

Perhaps our greatest crisis isn’t terrorism or natural disaster. Perhaps it is our need for compassion and community.

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MLK Day, 2019

Posted in Culture, Paul Beverly with tags equality, kindness, love, Martin Luther King Jr., MLK Day on January 20, 2019 by paulthepoke

Featuring Paul Beverly

I’m 100% for equality! Treat everyone the same, with love. However, I do not believe in entitlement. I am not entitled to anything because of who my dad may have been or for any reason. Do not live feeling you’re entitled. Live feeling everyone should be equal & with love.

How you treat others says everything about you. Your race, religion, sexual preference, looks, or whatever won’t define you really compared to if you’re a kind & caring person. Choose kindness.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Luke 6:31 And as you wish others would do to you, do so to them.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:11 For God shows no partiality.

Have an equal loving Martin Luther King Jr Day my friends!!!

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Choose Kindness… Featuring Paul Beverly

Posted in Paul Beverly with tags kindness, Matthew 7, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, tree of life on October 28, 2018 by paulthepoke

Be kind to everyone. It’s so simple & healthy. It’s how you want to be treated, so give kindness freely. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. I want a happy & kind world for my children 😊

Please pray for those affected by the mass shooting tragedy in Pittsburgh, PA.

photo: USA Today

Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law & the Prophets.

Have a week full of kindness my friends!!!

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Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Featuring Paul Beverly

Posted in Culture, Paul Beverly with tags Hebrews 13, kindness, love, Philippians 2, September, suicide on September 2, 2018 by paulthepoke

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. National Suicide Prevention Week is September 9-15, 2018, with World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10th.

September is suicide prevention month. Some of you know my story & why this is so close to my heart. I’ve lost friends to suicide. If not for God putting the vision of my children right in front of me, I was seconds away from taking this path. I hear others say that this is the coward’s way out. No, it’s Satan filling your head with self-doubt that you don’t matter anymore. That pain is so very unbearable & hard to take. It is worse than any physical pain ever felt.

Please be there for others going through hard times. Show them that they matter. Show them you care & love them. Tell them about God’s love. Get them with a Pastor or counselor trained in helping these situations. Get them with me even. I wish every school & church would have programs about this.

Treat everyone with kindness & love because every life matters.

Don’t miss the opportunity to help others, it’s a blessing for them & you.

Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good & share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have a helping month my friends!!!

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Our Daily Bread… Featuring Paul Beverly

Posted in Paul Beverly with tags Anthony Bourdain, cruelty, depression, hate, kindness, love, pain, Peace, Proverbs, struggle, suicide on June 10, 2018 by paulthepoke

Just now seeing that Anthony Bourdain has died from an apparent suicide. This is incredibly sad & proves that you honestly never know what a person is struggling with or feeling on the inside. Even those that are the most successful & seem the happiest have struggles. Depression is so real & so scary. You feel you don’t matter. You feel dying is better than the pain you’re feeling. It’s a disease that puts these false feelings in your brain. I promise, every single person matters & is loved. We as a society need to choose kindness & love way more often in our lives. We can make a difference. I pray everyone can find peace in their lives. RIP Mr Bourdain.

In a world that is far too often filled with hate & cruelty, I will choose kindness & love. I know how it makes me feel when others treat me with kindness, so I’ll always try to choose to make others feel they matter as well. Let’s make love & kindness contagious.

Proverbs 19:17 Whoever generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Proverbs 11:17 A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

You’ll always have the choice to be kind, choose it! It doesn’t cost a thing & is so valuable… Have a kind week my friends!!!

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Our Daily Bread…Featuring Paul Beverly

Posted in Paul Beverly with tags depression, kindness, loneliness, Luke 6, Philippians 2 on December 10, 2017 by paulthepoke

There is never a good time to be selfish, but especially this time of year when others are struggling with depression & loneliness. This can be the loneliest time of year for some. Every small act of kindness can change someone’s day. It is a busy time of the year. It takes little effort or time to brighten someone’s day & make them feel that they matter. Be a blessing to others.

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Luke 6:31 And as you wish others would do to you, do also to them.

Have an unselfish week my friends!!!