Author: itoccurstocp

“But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”  Like 6:27

There it is again.  Just when I think I may have made some strides toward being a better person I am reminded of this seemingly impossible goal.  Anthony DeMello addresses this in The Way To Love and provides some insight.  He suggests that when we sense that hate, that anger, that frustration at another, the first question to ask is “What does this irritation tell me about myself?”  He suggests that maybe, just maybe, that the other persons “defects” annoy the hell out of me because I have suppressed, yet struggle with, the same ones.  He suggests that perhaps, just perhaps, I am expecting another person with different life experiences, a person “programmed” in a different way, to act as I do/expect based on my programming.  I am expecting an Apple product to function like a Microsoft product when I hit certain keys, a right-hander to throw the ball left-handed.

“Many people today, it seems, would rather be right than compassionate.”  Karen Armstrong

As I read this quote I thought of a recent story I had seen in which someone had clipped together a series of videos of adults who had gotten so intent on getting a baseball in the stands that he/she muscled out or pushed aside a child in order to get the ball.  I looked at those and shook my head, but it is easy  to do the equivalent in life with my insistence on being right.

“And he arose and came to his father.”  Luke 15:20

When I read this I think of the trepidation the young man, the prodigal, must have felt.  He has gone off into a far country against his father’s wishes, lost all his money, taken a crappy job, nearly starved to death, and come to the realization that he would be better going back to his father as a hired servant than remain on the path he is on.  Still, he has to transfer all that thought into action, to arise and take the first step, then the next, to start the long trek home – and you know that was a long walk home.

It occurs to me that at any point in life there are those “returns,” those “journeys home”  I am thinking about making that require an awakening first (that point in the parable in which “he came to himself”), and then the trepidation-filled first step, then the next, on the journey back.  Keep moving along.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  Psalm 51:10

Renewal, that seems to me to be the theme of Psalm 51.  It is not just that we have screwed up once and seek forgiveness for that transgression – though that is part of it.  There is also an understanding that once that sin is washed away, there are others behind it, or others to come.  “For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me.” v. 3

So, it is a prayer of renewal, yes, but also a plea to God to not give up on us despite the mess we have made of things.  “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”  v. 11-12  Indeed, if I may be so bold (and I am): “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”  V. 12.  In that sense, it is kind of like shampoo — Rinse — Lather — Repeat.

“Enough is a feast.”  Celia Mora

Webster’s defines enough as follows: “occurring in such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations.” Who am I to quibble with Webster’s, but speaking for myself, and I guess about myself, “enough” seems to me to be something less than what I demand or expect, unless of course I have “right-sized” my demands and expectations.

“Why, you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, ‘if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag.  All such boasting is evil.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”  James 4:16-16

If looking for affirmation and encouragement thumbing through the Bible, this is not a great place to start.  This is, however, a reality check, particularly for those (throat clearing) who tend to lose sight of the big picture.  Every time I read this I am reminded of a mentor of mine who, every time I used to head out to undertake some important task, would tell me as I headed to the elevator: “Remember, there are millions and millions of people in China that don’t even know this problem, much less you, exists.”  I saw that as levity at the time, and it was, but in retrospect, (I liked the guy) I like to think he was pointing me to these verses.

From the poet, Wendell Berry

“I am one who is knocking

at the door.  I am one whose foot

is on the bottom rung.

But I know that Heaven’s

bottom rung is Heaven

though the ladder is standing

on the earth where I work

by day and at night sleep

with my head upon a stone.”

This from the same Wendell Berry who wrote: “Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.”  I like Berry’s attitude, and his mental image of the ladder, which may reach into the heavens, but which, to be of any practical use to us, has to have its bottom rung ”standing on the earth where I work by day and at night sleep with my head upon a stone.”

Though no Pollyanna, Berry exudes hope, even if hope, at times, seems to feel like Jim Carrey’s line in Dumb and Dumber: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.  Yeah!”

There is something about the poetry of Mary Oliver that hits home with me, and based on her popularity, I guess with others as well.  Her way with words, her ability to make words into feelings, is exemplified in When Death Comes, the title, in and of itself, an amazing combination of three words.  Not the question of “If Death Comes” or the darkness of “Death Comes,” but the simple realization, perhaps resignation, of “When Death Comes.”

One line I have always favored is “when death comes, like an iceberg between the shoulders”  — a line descriptive beyond words.  But as she often does, Oliver saves the best for the last:

“When its over, I don’t want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Photo taken in Galveston

Reading today from Henri Nouwen’s Making All Things New:

“To create space for God among us requires the constant recognition of the Spirit of God in each other.”

My first reaction is that no one told me it was going to be THAT difficult, but Nouwen persists.

“Community has little to do with mutual compatibility.  Similarities in educational background, psychological make-up, or social status can bring us together, but they can never be the basis for community.  Community is grounded in God, who calls us together, and not in the attractiveness of people to each other.  There are many groups that have been formed to defend their own status, or to promote their own causes….  Instead of breaking through the walls of fear and creating space for God, they close themselves to real or imaginary intruders.  The mystery of community is precisely that it embraces all people, whatever their individual differences may be, and allows them to live together as brothers and sisters in Christ….”

It is easy to perceive that community is gathering with like-minded folks who can, conveniently, share thoughts, complaints, and points of view.  It occurs to me that if this were true, looking in a mirror would be community.