Why Bother?

                                                                

     While watching my granddaughters today, we were watching "Olivia", a children's cartoon about a little girl (pig) who has two younger siblings.  Olivia was bemoaning her lot in life, at how she had to put up with her little brother, whom she called her little "bother".
     When A.(3) woke up from her nap, she looked down at her little sister who was still asleep.  She informed me that J. was a "bother".  She was always "bothering her".  A. told me that J. was always following her around, and messing with her.  She would bug her when she was putting her puzzles together, and grab the pieces.
     I had to smile, as memories of Gabe complaining about the same issues with their father, Tim flooded my brain.  I asked her if she knew why J. did that.  She didn't know, so I told her.  "J. does it because she loves you.  She wants to be like you, and do the same things you do.  J. thinks she is as big as you are.  She doesn't do it to be mean...she thinks she is playing with you. (I was kind of hoping that last statement was true...)  She loves you." 
     "I love her, too!", she said.
     Isn't that how it is?  They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.  Those that we admire, we try to be like, and conform to how they act and think.
     There are those who say, "I don't imitate anyone!  I am comfortable in who I am.  I don't HAVE to act like someone else!!"
     While that is true, it does not pertain to believing Christians.  The Bible states many times that we should "be like Christ".  That's where the word 'Christian' comes from...'little Christ's'.  We should adapt our lives to live as Christ did. 
     In our day to day life we should think of the decisions we make in the light of what Christ would do.  In the 1990's, Dan Seaborn came up with the term W.W.J.D.  What Would Jesus Do?  It became a grassroots sensation that spread worldwide. It almost became a flip saying.  In actuality, it is a real question.  What WOULD Jesus do in the situation you are in? 
     If we love Jesus, we would want to be like Him..to make the same decisions that He would.  Do we have to?  Is it that important?  I believe it is.  For Christ's Love to be spread to others, it can only be done through human hands...and hearts.  Who will help the brokenhearted?  Who will bring aid to the helpless?  Who will love the unlovable?  If we don't do it...who will?
     Why should we bother?  Because that's what Jesus would do.