“The more connections I make, the further I can reach across the world finding inspiration in every person that I meet.” ~ Matt Pyke, Artist “Universal Everything”

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This is a story that came from Second World War Poland.

There was a man who was well known for his care and compassion and who was deeply loved because of it.  He was not a particularly wealthy man, nor was he a native of the village, nor did he attend the village catholic church.  In fact, he was not even baptized and showed little interest in rectifying that situation.

Before and during the War, he was known for his good works.  If a stranger came to the village and needed a place to stay, this man would offer his little home.  If a village family ran out of food, he was among the first to offer a loaf of bread.  If someone was in trouble with the authorities, who by and large oppressed the citizens, or if the Nazis or, later the Soviets, were collecting the young men for either imprisonment, or to force them into the army, or worse, he would help hide the would-be victims in the woods outside town or in some other way.  He was loved very much.

Eventually, the man died, and the grateful villagers prepared his body for burial and proceeded to the village church where they asked the priest to bury the man in the church cemetery.

The priest, who knew and loved the man as much as did the rest of the villagers agreed that he would conduct the funeral service – but he insisted, despite many pleas from the villagers, that he could not bury the man inside the church cemetery because he was not baptized.

“I cannot bury him in our cemetery”, the priest said, “It is hallowed ground.  He must go where those who are not baptized are buried.  Those are the rules of the church and I cannot change them.”

The villagers appealed even more earnestly to the priest, saying that the man was a good man and was surely loved by God as much as any of the baptized, perhaps even more on account of all the good that he had done.

The priest agreed with them regarding the virtues of the man, but insisted that the rules of the faith were clear and could be not be broken.  Finally he came up with a compromise that he hoped would satisfy everyone.  “In recognition of your love for him – and his love for you and all of God’s people in this village”, he said, “I will bury him on church land, near to those who have gone before him – those whom he has loved, but it will have to be beyond the fence that surrounds the consecrated ground of our cemetery.”

And so it was.  On the appointed day, a grave was prepared just outside the fence that surrounded the church cemetery, and the body of the man was processed by all the villagers to the site where the priest conducted the ceremony – and then the grave was filled in and a stone placed before the night fell.

During the night something happened – something that became apparent when the priest went to the church next morning to conduct morning mass.   The fence that surrounded the cemetery had been moved by some of the villagers – so that it now took in the grave in which the man had been buried.

So often, solutions to problems that address everyone’s concerns just require a bit of ingenuity, creativity and thinking out of the box.

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“The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.” ~ William James

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An Awakened World
by Diana Loomans, Professional Speaker, Trainer, Author and Success Coach

Imagine a world where land is known simply as Land ~
Not Russia or Africa, Australia or China or America or Antarctica,
Just one glorious graceland of God’s geography.

Imagine a world where people are known simply as People -
Not Indians or Persians, Asians or Americans, Aborigines or Africans,
Just one brilliant bouquet of flowering humanity.

Imagine a world where true religion is known simply as Kindness,
Not only Islam or Buddhism, Hinduism or Judaism, Christianity or Taoism,
Just one great circle of love, honoring all of creation.

Imagine this world often ~
One shifting from overpowering some to empowering all.
A planet evolving from “I love to have,” to “I have to love.”
A world that knows there are no sides
to a globe that is round.”

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“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Dr. Howard Thurman (author, theologian)

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“One rock can change the course of the river.” ~ Claire Nuer (Holocaust and cancer survivor)

“Our actions create our reality.” ~ Peter Senge

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao-tzu

“Anyone can be great because anyone can serve.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.