Caring for each other

How we care for each other matters.  But, just as children don't need "helicopter" parents, and workers don't appreciate "helicopter" bosses, so Job does not appreciate having "helicopter" friends who hover, analyze, and criticize.

He responds to his friend Eliphaz as follows (Job 7: 17-21 from the Expanded Bible on BibleGateway): 

¹⁶ I ·hate [^Lreject] my life; I don’t want to live forever.
    Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

¹⁷ “Why do you make people so important
    and ·give them so much attention [^Lset your heart on them; ^Ccontrast Ps. 8:4]?
¹⁸ You ·examine [visit] them every morning
    and test them ·every moment [all the time].
...
    Have I become a ·heavy load [burden] for you?
²¹ Why don’t you ·pardon [forgive] my ·wrongs [transgressions]
    and ·forgive my sins [carry away my guilt]?

The kind of "watching" described above contrasts markedly from the way God watches over each of His/Her children. Hymn 279 in the Christian Science Hymnal includes the comforting phrase "cared for, watched over, beloved and protected", implying one who is cherished, not judged. 

In "Compassion Wins - Collected Poems and Essays 1977-2000" (copyright 2001), poet Godfrey John explains that "The sense of being watched must not be confused with the sense of being judged" (p. 160). His essay "Looked Over and Watched Over" describes being watched (as a child) by two inquisitive geese, and later by quizzical Indian villagers -- both acute learning experiences. In conclusion, John observes that "...audiences can serve to bring out the best in us"(p. 162) -- a stunning observation! 

In considering how we care for each other, the thirteenth chapter of Paul's first great letter to the Corinthians is deservedly famous. Here, Paul proclaims that Love is greater than hope, and greater than faith. Henry Drummond's 1884 lecture "The Greatest Thing in the World" expands on Paul's message. Drummond divides what he calls "the Spectrum of Love" into "nine ingredients", i.e. 

1. patience
2. kindness
3. generosity
4. humility
5. courtesy
6. unselfishness
7. good temper
8. guilelessness, and 
9. sincerity. 

Explaining "guilelessness and sincerity", Professor Drummond reminds us that "the people who influence [us] are people who believe in [us]. In an atmosphere of suspicion men shrivel up..." 

But Job doesn't shrivel up! He is not a feather floating on the wind. What his friends think or say will not knock him off balance. This man of integrity (of Truth) observes, reasons, and endures.

Julie Swannell