{"id":530,"date":"2013-10-29T10:17:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T10:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doingwhatmatters.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2020-06-08T20:12:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:12:56","slug":"how-then-shall-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/how-then-shall-live\/","title":{"rendered":"How Then Shall We Live?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sermon<\/a>Some of the ideas in the last post’s video seem reminiscent of classical Christian ideas of how believers should live in the world. These Christian ideas are drawn from the whole of scripture and tradition, but the best known source may be Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and other teachings. Jesus admonished his followers to ‘ . . . .in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).<\/p>\n

The primary thing I take away from both the video and these teachings is that everything begins with an attitude and a choice<\/strong>. In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,<\/em> Stephen Covey talks about two circles\u2013a circle of influence and a circle of concern. He contends that highly effective people focus on their circle of influence, while less effective people focus on their circle of concern.<\/p>\n

As an example, rather than worrying about the abstract problem of global hunger, an effective and compassionate person who lives in an inner city might begin planting gardens in unlikely places, as guerrilla gardner Ron Finley did in south central Los Angeles (video below). A grocer or restauranteur could share leftover items with local shelters.<\/a> An individual could help an out-of-work neighbor in a appropriate way that respects the dignity of the person.<\/p>\n