Did you know that we all have the power to raise the dead? Do you doubt it? Well just see what happens the next time you show someone a kindness without thought of reward.  Here’s an example. I take my daughter Calista with me a lot of times when I visit the senior living facilities in the area.  In one facility in particular there are many people who are at a stage in life where they–according to the conventional standards–have very little to look forward to.  They don’t have many visitors.  Their bodies don’t respond to their will as they once did and some of them don’t even remember much of their lives.  However, when they see Calista walking down the halls they light  up and shine, because they know life when they see it.  Every single time without fail, you can see where Calista has been because there is life there.

Don’t you know that you have that power in you?  We all do.  However, many of us do not have that effect in the world because we hold our life inside.  When we have the opportunity to spread life we often don’t because we can’t see what we get out of it or we’re more concerned about the image we are trying to project than we are with sharing who we are with someone. We calculate whether or not it is “worth it” to do something kind based off of some weird value system not realizing that the calculation itself means it is not kind in the first place.  We calculate when we are thinking about ourselves and what we have to gain or lose.  When we think about others, we forget about the calculations.  Life has nothing to lose.  At least not the Life that Jesus talked about and embodied.

I know that this probably doesn’t make that much sense.  It probably makes about as much sense as saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead”.  That’s why children are a good example of abundant life.  When Calista visits the seniors, she is just shining her light without reservation.  She is not concerned with all of the calculations about what makes the visit “worth it” or not.  Perhaps in the future she might when she starts going to school and trying to be cool.  But right now because she is relatively immune to the world, she can go in there wearing a princess dress and a raincoat and bring joy to people’s lives.

You have the power to bring death to life wherever you are.  It may not be in a senior center or in an impoverished area opening schools or fundraising for some charity. Maybe it’s just smiling genuinely and with presence at your cashier in the grocery story.  In ways that may seem incomprehensible, I can assure you that there are times when one smile with presence can do more for the world than 1,000 protesters and $1 Billion in the hands of so called reformers. So my friends don’t hold in your life.  Share it and bring Life to death

Just an offering from a former zombie who loves you.