Second Mile Living
Abundance thinking could be called second mile thinking or going the extra mile. That kind of thinking causes you to be worth more than you’re getting paid for. You want to do more than is required. Back in ancient times it was said if someone asks you to walk a mile, walk two. Go the extra mile, think big, be bigger than your mistakes and go after your golden goose that will lay a bunch of golden eggs! It was written if they want your coat give it to them and your scarf. If they slap your cheek turn the other. I want to use these passages because I think they have been misrepresented. I don’t think the author of these sayings was implying that if you are robbed give the thief more. I don’t think he meant if you are in danger of violence roll over.
At the time of the writing the Romans had defeated and conquered countries and were in control. The Roman’s had a law that allowed a Roman soldier to ask you to carry his belongings a mile. The law would not allow him to make you carry it further. People of that day set mile markers out so they would know how far to walk. In that day the law said a Roman soldier could slap your cheek as a sign of respect. Also the law allowed him to take your coat if he was cold.
These sayings do not promote passivity, or thievery, or allowing violence. If someone steals your coat call the police! But these laws were more political. It was more of a culture. The people of that day were angry at the authority and were waiting for a day of revenge. They hated the Romans and called them unclean. They wouldn’t eat with them and if they touched them they would wash their hands. If a child was born of mixed race they called them Samaritans and dogs. That’s where we get the story of the Good Samaritan.
In that day when a soldier asked someone to carry his belongings he would only walk an exact mile and then throw his stuff down then raced home to wash their hands. Love your enemies was the command. Love doesn’t mean to roll over and let someone hurt your family or allow another country to invade yours. Love means call the police and get a violent offender off the street but once he’s in prison treat him humanly and try to rehabilitate him. Love means fire an employee that is not suited for your company. Ray Kroc, who joined McDonalds in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food restaurant in the world, said “the best thing you can do for an employee that is not working out is to free them up to do something else,†in other words fire them.
It was written go two miles even though only one was required. Love your enemies pray for those that despitefully use you. We know that revenge and anger and un-forgiveness mainly hurt the person with those feelings.
It was over two thousand years ago when the law of extra mile living or second mile living was introduced, but it still holds true for us today. Back then after the enslaved person carried the Roman’s soldier belongings an exact mile, he threw the soldiers stuff down, uttered obscenities under his breath, raced home washed his hands for he felt the Roman was unclean and then prayed God’s wrath on him.
The new message was to forgive, love your enemies, walk two miles and pray for those that despitefully use you. Some people did not want to hear that message of good news. They thought they were better than everyone else. They thought their religion was better, that God loved them more and would destroy anyone that disagreed with them.
If a person did not have an extra mile spirit, if they saw a soldier coming they would probably hide. If they were found out and had to carry his belongings, they probably never said a word to the soldier; they probably judged his every move and in their minds criticized him.
Now imagine with me what the second mile might have looked like. The soldier would be walking home after a long day of serving Caesar. Maybe it was a violent day, maybe a day at the coliseum, who knows the horror he might have seen and had to be a participant in. The second mile living person may have walked out to meet him to carry his belongings. The soldier might find it strange he did not try to hide. Nothing would be said for the first mile. The soldier would wonder why the other kept on carrying his belongings past the mile marker.
This would happen every day. Not just one mile, not just two miles but eventually all the way home to the soldier’s house. Pretty soon they would become friends. The second mile thinker or the golden goose thinker would have a servant’s heart and a heart of how can I help you.
If the soldier did not appear for a few days the extra mile thinker would go to his house, only to find his wife worried and upset not knowing where he was. Then he would go into town and seek him out, and see if he was in need. Imagine with me our extra mile advocate finds our soldier in a drunken state, filthy, disheveled and depressed. Our new life’s hero helps this soldier, washes him up, reminds him he has a family and kids back home that need him. The soldier tries to resist and acts like he never knew this person, because it would harm his reputation.
Our man talks him into going home and asking his wife for forgiveness. The soldier does and the next day talks with his new friend all the way home, thanking him for his council. Now imagine one night the soldier franticly knocks on our man’s door after midnight. The soldier tells his friend that his wife is deathly sick with fever. Our man and his wife load up herbs and medicine and race to her side.
Our second mile man’s wife stays with her for days until she is healed. Our second mile living friend has many friends like himself, and they all take turns bringing them cooked food and helping with the children. That is what the author of “go with him two miles meant!â€
In modern times we are talking about politics, the right and the left. We are talking about corporations good and bad, large and small. Our enemies might be our competitors, our ex-spouses, neighbors, people we had bad dealings with our boss, or our customer. Love your enemies and take the high road.
All throughout my blogs I will talk about giving. I will show how taking this high road and loving your enemies is actually good for you. It is good for your health and peace of mind. When you give to someone that cannot help you in return, that act actually causes your brain to release good endorphins that make you feel great and bring healing to your body. And the opposite is true for feelings like hate, revenge, animosity, greed, fear and anger these feelings release bad chemicals in your body that cause ulcers, cancers, restlessness, anxieties and other bad conditions.
If we want to live an abundant life and not just day to day and barley getting by, we have to forgive and go the extra mile, do more than is required. We don’t need to be a door mat or allow people to take advantage of us, but on the petty stuff, turn the other cheek. With an ex-spouse do what’s best for the kids. Take the high road, forgive, be kind and go the extra mile and turn the other cheek. If the law requires you to pay the minimum pay more.
It does not mean they are right or that you agree with them, they might be dead wrong. It is just not our job to prove them wrong. We need to ask ourselves if in the full scope of things; does it really matter? Is it worth losing our joy, our peace, our health or our integrity?
The golden goose thinker is positive around negative situations. The golden egg thinker is always negative. They always complain about what they don’t want. They are always talking about and only see what’s wrong with everything. The golden goose thinker is always talking about what he does want and what is right about everything. The golden goose thinkers help change what is wrong in a positive way. Psychologists say, say what you want, not what you don’t want. The golden goose thinker believes in the law of attraction and is always sending out a positive vibe.