It’s hard for me to get images and circumstances out of my head sometimes. They circle around and around, and truly have the potential to keep me on edge. Why are some things hard to digest, harder to set aside? What is it about them that just won’t let us have peace?
I subscribe to a daily devotional through our Horizon Texas Conference. These devotions are written by clergy, laypersons, and even some by our bishop. Included in the devotion are a few other clergy we are encouraged to lift up in prayer on that day. It really has been a good thing to start the day with. I take some inspiration from what is said, and even from what is sometimes not said. All in all, a very worthwhile enterprise. This is not what keeps me up at night, this gives me a sense of peace. Pulling away to nourish my spirit gives me peace.
One of the devotionals recently pricked my consciousness. The writer referenced the scripture where Jesus told of those who would appear before God and ask when they ever neglected to do for God when God was in need. Of course you will remember, the story, where God says when you did not tend to the very least among you, you didn’t tend to me. The writer goes on to tell of a time when they were in a Walmart and a desperate young woman with a child came up pleading for them to help them purchase some necessary hygiene items. The writer remembered when they were in the same predicament and acquiesced to help the person in need. This is what set my mind to racing.
Its been a few years ago, but I was approaching a busy intersection on a particularly cold and icy day. Sitting on the ground at the intersection was a young man and a very small boy wrapped in winter coats. I was lost in my own thoughts and before I knew it I passed them and my mind finally kicked in to recognize what I had just seen. The intersection was at a busy highway and I had turned to get on the highway. I couldn’t get the image out of my head. I was driving, but my heart and soul were tugging at me to respond. I managed to get off the highway and turn around to go back to that intersection. When I was finally able to get back there, the two of them were gone. That image has haunted me ever since. And when I read the devotional about the young woman and child’s plight, it came rushing back to me.
How many times has God given me the chance to truly interact with the divine, and because of distractions or indifference, have I sped on past that opportunity?
I know we are at a very precarious time right now. Lots of people are anxious, fearful, angry, and divided. Its the nature of what is happening all around us. These forces have a way of distracting us from being who we are called to be. We fret about what some politicians have said or done. We let anger rule us when those we oppose are doing or saying things contrary to our own sense of fairness and morality.
There are simply times we need to pull away from all the noise, and see what is before us. What’s before us is a world that is sorely in need of love, compassion, caring, forgiveness, and mercy. As those who worship God, we have been endowed with these particular attributes. We don’t always employ them, but they are in us. We sometimes let other things distract us, but somewhere inside of us is the Holy Spirit urging us to let those things rise to the surface.
Maybe it is a good thing that I have stuff that won’t let me rest and find peace. Maybe its a good thing that God continues to remind me of who I’m supposed to be. Maybe, if I would let go of the noise of the world, and see those in need, I can find peace. Instead of letting my stomach churn because of some politician’s rhetoric, instead I reached out to someone in need, what kind of peace could I find?
We are going to have all sorts of things that can keep us on edge and awake when we should be resting. That’s the nature of life, it always has been. But if I can make one person’s life a little better, I think peace might just show up.
May God continue to prick our conscience and keep us a little on edge, so that we can find God in those around us. Finding God, and responding with what God has given us is probably the very best peace we can know.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom