Thursday, December 22, 2011
Comfort & Joy
I'm tired. Tired of warm days and bright orange and never-ending events. As much as I absolutely love it all, I'm so ready for break- I can't wait to see my family, to rest and celebrate and just be together. The idea of having 11 days in a row with no alarm clock, no emails, no making lunches or fighting traffic, no stressing about not having time to work out... just rest and joy in having one more Christmas together. I'm ready for a break from the smog and thoughts and learning so many new things, and ready to go back to a place that has barely changed, but that looks so different to me because I have changed greatly. I am thankful for a comfort and joy greater than I ever expected, and I wish peace would find those who suffer this season. May your Christmas be merry and bright!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Broken
So many encounters with so many broken things- everywhere I meet people with broken lives. People gone utterly wrong by selfishness, anger, greed, hurt, and people treating each other in unthinkable ways. I don't understand, but I've realized that it's shockingly common.
The stark and bitter reality is that most people have been effected by cruelty, often from within their own family. This is the opposite of how it should be; families are meant to be built on love, support, and caring. Instead, some of the most dysfunctional relationships int he world are between families who somehow turn on each other. But the phenomenon of cruelty is not limited to families; the world is full of people who stand in roles that should embody leadership, compassion, wisdom, and consideration for others. Yet those who hold these great, heavy, responsibilities can somehow choose to not care, and they use their authority to be selfish, to create pain and harm and damage. Whatever the reason, people choose evil, and abandon their responsibility- spitting on the beautiful gift they received when they were given the ability to choose.
It is utterly incomprehensible to me that people with such power for good (parents, teachers, politicians, pastors, etc) would ever choose anything so obviously damaging to those they are called to take care of. Things like abuse, sex trafficking, abandoned/unloved children, disabled people who are denied the care they need, and even those who shirk their responsibility to the world by advancing harm in their businesses and organizations- how can this happen? I feel like a child sometimes, so completely confounded by a world gone so wrong. I know none of us are perfect; but making mistakes and having selfish moments is still a far cry from the outright and utter abuses and cruelty and heartlessness that abound today. I do not think this is a new phenomenon; any study of history will show that people have always had an incredible capacity for cruelty. Humans are amazingly powerful- capable of mind-boggling harm and also of powerful and renewing good. Yet so many have chosen harm...
Why are we so broken?
But in the midst of it we also find a few amazing examples of love, compassion, and caring; leaders working for justice, and people showing incredible strength and sacrifice as they fight for goodness. Therein lies hope. Surely we are meant to work together towards a better world- building instead of damaging, improving instead of destroying, and joining together instead of tearing apart. Isn't this the ultimate goal of humanity- perhaps the purpose for which we were created? We cannot demonstrate Gods' glory in division, selfishness, and harm. How can the evil be conquered; how can love be spread so that it can be made more powerful a force in this wicked world than cruelty? Can corruption be conquered?
I don't have the answers; all I know is that each of us must do everything in our power to show kindness, fight for justice, spread good, seek out wisdom, genuinely love others, and treat people as the incredibly valuable creatures that they- are we- are.
The stark and bitter reality is that most people have been effected by cruelty, often from within their own family. This is the opposite of how it should be; families are meant to be built on love, support, and caring. Instead, some of the most dysfunctional relationships int he world are between families who somehow turn on each other. But the phenomenon of cruelty is not limited to families; the world is full of people who stand in roles that should embody leadership, compassion, wisdom, and consideration for others. Yet those who hold these great, heavy, responsibilities can somehow choose to not care, and they use their authority to be selfish, to create pain and harm and damage. Whatever the reason, people choose evil, and abandon their responsibility- spitting on the beautiful gift they received when they were given the ability to choose.
It is utterly incomprehensible to me that people with such power for good (parents, teachers, politicians, pastors, etc) would ever choose anything so obviously damaging to those they are called to take care of. Things like abuse, sex trafficking, abandoned/unloved children, disabled people who are denied the care they need, and even those who shirk their responsibility to the world by advancing harm in their businesses and organizations- how can this happen? I feel like a child sometimes, so completely confounded by a world gone so wrong. I know none of us are perfect; but making mistakes and having selfish moments is still a far cry from the outright and utter abuses and cruelty and heartlessness that abound today. I do not think this is a new phenomenon; any study of history will show that people have always had an incredible capacity for cruelty. Humans are amazingly powerful- capable of mind-boggling harm and also of powerful and renewing good. Yet so many have chosen harm...
Why are we so broken?
But in the midst of it we also find a few amazing examples of love, compassion, and caring; leaders working for justice, and people showing incredible strength and sacrifice as they fight for goodness. Therein lies hope. Surely we are meant to work together towards a better world- building instead of damaging, improving instead of destroying, and joining together instead of tearing apart. Isn't this the ultimate goal of humanity- perhaps the purpose for which we were created? We cannot demonstrate Gods' glory in division, selfishness, and harm. How can the evil be conquered; how can love be spread so that it can be made more powerful a force in this wicked world than cruelty? Can corruption be conquered?
I don't have the answers; all I know is that each of us must do everything in our power to show kindness, fight for justice, spread good, seek out wisdom, genuinely love others, and treat people as the incredibly valuable creatures that they- are we- are.
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