The word mantra has two parts: man, which is the root of the Sanskrit word for mind; and tra, which is the root of the word instrument. Therefore, a mantra is an instrument of the mind that we can use to help us on the way of life.
For me, a mantra isn’t filled with jargon or fancy-dancy language. (Dancy is not a word… it’s just a phrase that comes to mind when I want to express something like, gobbledygook).
No jargon, no fancy-dancy language or gobbledygook—just core values, purposes and goals—that’s a mantra to me. That’s what mission statements are supposed to be – core values, purposes, and goals: “Sharing God’s Unconditional Love, Justice, and Extravagant Welcome.”
Let me be so bold to say, that we’re good at sharing it when: We get a good night’s rest, Our family members are cooperating, Our health is good, People are nice to us, We open the fridge and we get the last piece of pie, The people who we love, say, feel, and express, “I love you back.”
We’re at our best when all things are going well—physically, emotionally, spiritually. But, what if: We don’t sleep, Family doesn’t cooperate, We feel horrible, When people are just mean, When the one food you crave isn’t in the fridge, When we’re judged and we are excluded?
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE… Can we give people, grace, space, time, compassion, and no judgment even when they are clearly wrong and have hurt you and me? Can those first words out of our mouth be love based?
JUSTICE…how are we helping people? Justice, as simply as I can put it, is righting the wrongs, that is correcting the wrongs that have been done to people, especially the poor and downtrodden. If we aren’t helping others, are we really living?
And lastly EXTRAVAGANT WELCOME. Can you recall times when you were not part of the group? That feeling of not being accepted for who we are cuts deep, to our very soul.
And finally, Mark Twain said, “Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” And I add… and it begins with me. Share God’s Unconditional Love, Justice, and Extravagant Welcome.
Shalom, Paul