In the words of Yoda, "No! Try not! Do or do not, there is no try."

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Finally a national something day that I can write about with my eyes closed.

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Well maybe not literally closed; that wasn't quite as good an idea as I thought it was. 

Today is "National Love your Neighbor Day"!

As far as I am concerned it might as well be the Clark County Family YMCA Day! You have heard me say this a bunch of times, 

"While it is true that we have the best pool in Clark County Washington, the largest group exercise studio, weights and weight systems that rival any gym, indoor track, awesome gymnasium and multi-purpose rooms, along with programs that are the envy of Southern Washington. All that stuff are just tools that we use to do what we do best. What we do best is love on people." 

We actually have a "Transformation Team" with the sole purpose of teaching a community to love its neighbor. How do they do that you ask? Well, accomplish that amazing feat by doing a lot less talking and a lot more doing.

Oh wait, did I hear you say, "Ya right, that will never work. where did you get that hairbrained idea from?"

Well, being the village idiot that I am, I obviously didn't think it up on my own.

I read it in a book, now what book was it? 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b]”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Here at the Clark County Family YMCA we are busy "going and doing likewise" to the best of our ability. do we always get it right? No, not always. We have a saying, It is ok to make a hustling mistake, just don't make the same mistake over and over. There are too many new mistakes we can make to get into the rut of redoing old mistakes. 

In the words of Yoda, "No! Try not! Do or do not, there is no try."

How are you at loving your neighbor, Are you doing or doing not?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,