Do It Anyways

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

No matter what others think or say, always do what you know is right.  Some might think it's pointless to go feed people who might possibly end up in the same situation again.  I say feed them anyways.  Some might think it's pointless to educate people who strongly stick to their customs.  I say teach them anyways. 

It is always right to help those in true need.  When a people group is starving, feed them.  When your neighbors are without clothes, clothe them.  When a widow is facing the world alone, defend her.  When a child is without parents, adopt him.  When the poor cross your path, provide for them.  When you see the lonely, befriend them.  No matter what the world might say, do it anyways!

 

This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.  Jeremiah 22:3
 

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.  Psalm 34:14

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Isaiah 58:6

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.  Isaiah 1:17

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  Psalm 82:3

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.  Proverbs 31:9

So that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  Deuteronomy 14:29

I loved this little boy's Diego shirt. It reminded me of Diego's rescue song, "Al Rescate Amigos, To the Rescue My Friends"
Matthew 22:36-39 says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself."

To love our neighbor, we need to come to their rescue when they need help.

This Honduras trip has really taught me to "do it anyways" and "Al Rescate Amigos!"