Saturday 10/31/2015 7:44 AM
I am only month away from my sixtieth birthday. As I age I
have a tendency to become more despondent. It seems that the world is becoming
less caring and everything seems to be coming apart at the seams. Any attempt I
make to stem this tide seems inconsequential at best.
I have great respect for my brother-in-law and
sister-in-law. Their lives have been spent pouring love into the lives of those
living on the periphery of society. They have sought to restore justice to
those oppressed and have attempted to change the unjust systems that continue
to perpetuate the wrongs perpetrated on the weak and powerless. There have been
times when their efforts effected the desired change but too often the small
steps gained were soon eradicated. They continue on in their retirement doing
the same kind of work. I try to emulate their
tenacity to the cause but my efforts pale in comparison.
I have engaged in long conversations with them regarding
the issues about which they are so passionate. We have never spoken directly of
this but I sometimes wonder if they become as discouraged as I do when little
to no progress seems to be made toward the goal.
This morning I ran a little later than usual, so I saw a
number of people out for their morning exercise. As is my habit, when I meet
someone walking, running, or biking I smile and say good morning. It is a small
gesture but, since I live in the greater Los Angeles area where any
conversation with a stranger is unusual, most people are surprised. As I thought
about all the troubling things in the world, sinking deeper into melancholy, I met
someone walking. I greeted them with a friendly hello. They smiled, and
returned the greeting. I was listening to my music as I ran and the song
playing was I Am Not Alone, by Kari
Jobe. Immediately after the person returned my greeting these words from the
song came into my ears, “In the midst of deep sorrow I see your light is
breaking through. The dark of night will not overtake me, I am pressing into
you.” It was a reminder that even small gestures like a friendly greeting can
express the love of God for a stranger. The love of God expressed in the
smallest of gestures shines light into our dark world. After all, Jesus said God’s
love is expressed in the offering of a cup of cold water to a stranger.
The thoughts I had
when I ran were reinforced as I sat down for my devotions today. Part of my
reading included an essay by Sister Elaine M. Prevallet entitled “Living in
Mercy.” She writes, “Surely in the end, after all our righteous judgments on
what is wrong with ourselves, each other, and with the world; after we
experience injustice intractably resistant to our most devoted efforts, leaving
us with our thirst unquenched, our mouths dry and our throats sore from
protest; surely in the end the gospel calls us to view the whole of creation,
and each other, with the eyes of mercy, and to love it all anyway, with a
mercying heart.”
My job in the kingdom of God is not to bemoan what is wrong
with myself or with others with whom I have contact. It is not to become
discouraged when my efforts to right the wrongs of the world seem to be for
naught. My job is to view the world and its numerous inhabitants with the eye
of mercy and to love it with a mercying heart.
More and more, as I age, I feel as if the Spirit of God is
allowing me to view the world with the eye of mercy but the loving with a
mercying heart part is still an uphill battle for me. It is hard for me to know
how best to address the wrongs that are so prevalent in the world with love,
expressed in concrete actions. Thank God he looks at me with the eye of mercy and
loves me with his mercying heart.
May God grant me mercy and guide me, through the working of
his Spirit within me, to emulate him.
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