Amazing ordinaries
I spent time this weekend with amazing people. Oh, you wouldn't know they were amazing. In fact, most likely you would pass them right by on your way. Even talking to them wouldn't really hold you up for too long - they would be too polite. They've been through the drill before, you know. Answer the surface questions, smile at the appropriate time, wait, and watch as opportunity dissolves into smoke. And they remain locked in their pain while we wander away, adding this encounter to our portfolio. The prostitute who has to lower her rates to "pennies on the dollar" because this economic disaster truly does have a trickle down effect. The quiet one who survives from high to high because the "land of the free" isn't free for everyone. They wrestle with their innate knowledge that they are God-created and worth everything but treated as if they are dirt underfoot. Being on both ends of a gun, and finding life and alternative. Brave, all. Courageous, each. Amazing, totally. Ordinary people with amazing lives.
We humans are so complex. We are full to the brim of thoughts, ideas, hopes, dreams, scars, wounds, pain, anguish. We are bright and we are dark at the same time. And we wait. We wait for someone, somewhere to break into our world. With simple questions. With a little effort. With love. But we hold back. We are not willing to give. Why is that? Why are we -- no, why am I -- so selfish, so self-seeking, so evilly uninvolved? Can we be rescued from this apathy? Can we break the locks that hold our hearts and keep us from pouring ourselves into others? Can we truly be "rivers of living water" that the Book teaches? Oh, how I weep for it in my own life. God - Allah - Life-Giver - Creator and Sustainer of the universe - Abba - change my stony heart and give me one that beats in tune with Yours.
Comments
Where did this happen? Sounds like it was a tough experience. The more I hear about stories like this, the more I think we need to return to focusing on the community around us. When you have a community that supports one another through thick and thin, everyone benefits, and everyone sacrifices. If we're going to face hardships in the US, maybe it will be good to bring us back around to the things that matter most.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
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