Listening

As I hear the political voices this season, (none really impressing me b/c I find it difficult to be in politics at higher levels and speak with authenticity and integrity) the voice seems to always focus on satisfying someones agenda or gaining their support etc.  But I do churn over the comments made and the connection they make to social issues, equality, morality, how to begin/end life, who has ownership to my "stuff"...well you know the checklist of items, and how this checklist blends itself into my faith and belief system.


I find the older I get most folks don't like their faith to intersect with their daily lives.  You know living the daily and having control over what is mine...money, time, energy.  It's so difficult to teach our children the value of submission to the Lord for He is the giver of all things and how that lifestyle "rubs" ownership, responsibility and humility.  We all want to grow up and "own" our stuff, make a lot of money and go/do what we want.


I am not opposed to doing your best and caring for what you have been given; I believe that's the Lord's desire.  But the statement above whether it's ingrained in our minds or heard on television among religious voices or from political podiums,  it isn't clothed with humility.  It doesn't reflect the idea I'm continually discovering about this journey of faith.  The notion that we get what we deserve or that my success is all about my perseverance and hard work, one surviving beyond the island.  I think life, especially one trying to follow Jesus, is filled with pain, sacrifice and sometimes staying at the lonely place, bottom rung of the ladder.  It's a life shared with some community of faith.  A faith group that allows for questions, even the unanswered ones.  It's filled with grace and discipline, not a checklist of rules that are quick to outcast you.   I picture it in a refugee camp holding onto the joy of salvation, in a concentration camp praising God for fleas...I also see it in a life lived, giving w/o strings to the body around them.  Not sitting on the "stash" waiting till I am inspired to give a hefty donation. God didn't speak of inspiration to give to the poor, provide and protect the children...He said to DO THIS in His name, do I not love you more than the birds?


It's my personal struggle.  Why can't I own a house, paint my walls, buy new furniture?  I find myself knowing the treasures here in this world, even though it seems forever, are only temporary.  We are in constant state of preserving things...protecting our lives from age, death, sadness...when we take a view that this world is but a moment,  A  blink of an eye well then, my agenda seems less valuable.  Pain is part of growth.  Death is part of life.  Sadness is part of happy.


So how do I live life?  An island?  Nope.  It's not possible, community is essential.  Whether that community is online or distant friends that you see here/there; our success in this world must be built on humility, sacrifice and giving.  None of this world belongs to us, even our children.  We are given them for a moment...so much integrity, character building, God's vision of hope and peace and salvation in a few short years.  That's a job, right? A privilege not an enduring. 


It takes a village to help raise them.  A working it out as we say.  Sometimes we do it right and sometimes we just need a do-over.  They are resilient when we are honest about struggles and through saying sorry and moving on.   It really works.  I see it in the lives of students at school.  
At first, they are on edge, defensive and don't expect grace.  When you offer it, they often get nervous waiting for the "shoe" to drop.  When it doesn't they run to you.  They are deeply drawn to honesty and love.  Kinda sad as I see them graduating preparing for the "next step" and still desiring the simple things in life most of them not familiar with but intimately attracted to because we are created in His image.  An image of love.  


So by the grace of God, I am.  That's the sum, the end.  By His grace I am saved.  By His grace, go I.  Take courage with me this day...walk upright, knowing you are precious to HIM, if no other on this Earth, you are created by God who is light midst darkness.  Peace midst storm. Take those truths and pass them around...


~WendyK