Today, I reflect on why it is that people do what they do?
Altruism?
Fear of Punishment?
Peer Pressure?
Cool Points?
Yes, why is it that people do the things that they do? And how do you use the idiosyncrasies of human nature to motivate them to do choose to do good.
There have been times when I have considered the implications of forcing certain people to wise up and make good choices. When I have seen the heart ache and the suffering created by human nature for other humans to enjoy on this earth, I thoroughly ache.
With more time, and more perspective, I realize that you can never force anyone to do anything. God has given us the gift of agency and no one can take that away.
The only way that you can help people to change and to want to choose the better life for themselves is to help them find motivation. But as all are different in life path and experience, one may question how one could ever stumble upon a common motivation, or even a common theme to encompass motivations.
And yet throughout scripture, world history and time, there is this theme that appears that moves so many of us.
A father who would work three jobs to scorch the hunger and cold
A beggar who sacrifices a days earnings for the comfort of another
A mother who would brave the elements for a hope of a brighter day for her ailing child
and even the greatest of them all...
A Savior who would sacrifice everything....
...all because He loves us.
I am so amazed by the love that my Savior Jesus Christ freely gives to me daily. I am so grateful and so moved by His example. In times when I just feel like I'm barely holding on, I am able to access that love and not only is it sufficient for me, but if I allow it, it feels me to overflowing so much that I am enabled with the capacity to forget myself and move forward following His great example as I get lost in His great work.
You may call the term cliche, but to me, love is the force that can change us, make us want more for ourselves and for those we care about. This kind of love is healing, it is alive and progressive. It is sometimes the only thing that can keep me going. I feel that it is so hard to live if just for oneself, but if you consider all the people that you could possibly come into contact with in a day, each day, each hour, is so precious and so way more than worth it. And even when I'm not my best self, when I'm distracted and weak and forget what it's all about, if I am reminded if even for just a second and remember to help just that one person today-than maybe that one person will feel of this power and question why people do what they do.
