Keeping company

 
Jane & Joady sitting on rockKeeping company is a wonderfully powerful phase. It is a concept of behavior and unconditional love that many times we overlook.  It is different from just company, or even from the concept of companion.
To “Keep Company” means to support with unconditional love supplying anywhere there is a lack.  WOW!
Think about the power in this concept.
Company means to open ones home to welcome visitors to share and spend time with joy.  Keep Company takes this to a different and more powerful place.  Think about when you have used the concept.
Maybe you are on your way to visit an aging parent and someone asks, “Where are you going?”  And you say, “I am going to keep my Dad company this afternoon.”
The concept of keeping company is sometimes pushed aside with our busy lives.  Keeping company is moved by compassion and unselfish love!

Here are 3 ways we know if we are keeping company:

1) Keeping company is not about making the other one change, it is about supporting them right where they are and understanding that support is not acceptance.
Example: you are keeping someone company that has lost a loved one. Support them in the loss; don’t try to help them to move on; they will when ready. Just listen to them, or listen to their silence with a hope filled heart.
2) Keeping company is offering unconditional love, love that does not attaché itself to any previous, current or future behavior.  It is now concept, right at that moment.
Example: you are keeping company with a sick family member that is sick because they do not do right.  This is not the time to bring correction or cause blame; just be!
3) Keeping company is filing in the gap of their life for that moment, not a commitment to do that every time, but for that time.
Example: you are keeping company with someone that lacks compassion for others; fill in that gap for them and as they talk about family situations; bring the light of love and compassion so that they can see there is a better way.  They may not take it; but we can supply it.
We all need times of being taking care of, but we all need times of just coming and keeping company with us.  Look around in your life and who can you keep company with?  It is my desire to inspire you to keep company often because it deepens our own well of compassion.