The month of October brings to mind that famous old Peanuts cartoon of Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy is holding the football, and she tells Charlie Brown to kick it. As Charlie Brown goes running up to kick the football, Lucy pulls it out of the way at the last minute. Charlie Brown then ends up on his back. The worst part of this is that Lucy plays the same trick on Charlie Brown year, after year, after year. I always felt so awful for Charlie Brown. I kept asking myself why he hadn’t learned that Lucy was going to trick him?

Perhaps Charlie Brown, pessimist that he seems to be, is really an optimist! Perhaps Lucy will change this year! Perhaps God is like Charlie Brown with us. All we have to do is look around our town to see that there are folks who feel like they have been tricked by life year, after year, after year. And yes, they maybe have brought their hard times on themselves through choices that they have made in their lives, but no one consciously wants to be down and out. No one wants to feel like the world is against them. No one wants our pity either. Pity robs us of our dignity, like I feel for Charlie Brown year after year.

Many of us do see those around us who are down and out on their luck and we respond to what God asks us to do. God hopes to work through us to help them feel less tricked by their life around them. God hopes that we give people a helping handup, and not just a hand out. God hopes that we listen to them without being condescending, or having pity on them. God wants us to show compassion and love without robbing people of their dignity. God asks us to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” We don’t have to agree with someone politically, or socially, or even religiously to put that phrase into practice. A wise preacher has said that we will always have disagreements, but division is a choice. Let’s not let any disagreements keep us pulling the football away from any of our neighbors.