It occurs to me…

This from Barack Obama related to the Charlottesville events, quoting Nelson Mandela:

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.  People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

That was like a breath of fresh air – a simple, irrefutable truth stated plainly to point us toward a light beyond our darkness.  No blame there.  No discussion of statues or flags or who is right or wrong, good or bad.  No polarizing, no ____ bashing, no raising one side up and putting another side down.  The only finger pointing going on there is pointing back to me, to each of us, encouraging us to take a deep breath and remember that love is more natural than, stronger than, hate.

To quote the old V8 commercial: “Thanks, I needed that.”

With some regularity, I listen to Garrison Keillor recite the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) as the Fairfield Four provides “Amazing Grace” in the backdrop.  It is quite good.  As Keillor’s comforting voice recites “A certain man had two sons” I prepare to listen to the story again, but for the first time each time.

Anyway, listening today I was drawn to that first line and thought, for some reason, how the story would be different if there wasn’t a second son.  I mean, in verses 11-24, the only thing that would change would be replacing “two sons” with “a son.”  Still, the addition of the second son, who dominates verses 25-32, is meaningful.  Today, it occurs to me that for all the elder son’s efforts to distinguish himself from the younger son (“Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time, thy commandment? v. “thy son was come, which hath devoured they living with harlots”), he has much in common with his younger brother.  Perhaps that is why the elder son protesteth so much.  Their common ground, beyond their father, is of course that it is all about them, or at least they want it to be so.  Is “give me the portion that falleth to me” from the younger son really different from the elder son’s “thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends?”

All of which points me to the memory of flipping open a book at a bookstore in Memphis years ago, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, and reading that first paragraph:

“It’s not all about you.  The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness.  It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.  If you want to know why you were placed on this planet you must begin with God.  You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”

I may well be the long lost sibling of the two brothers in the parable.

From Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata:

“Take kindly the counsel of years. Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.”

I’ve never really focused on this line, but today it caught my eye.  To the extent I thought of it, I saw it as referring to external counsel – sort of an admonition to listen to folks wiser than me.  On reflection it occurs to me that Ehrmann is encouraging me to listen to myself more, the seasoned me, and, at the same time, let go of those youthful perceptions that have guided me thus far.  All of which reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:11:  “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”  Which of course begs the questions – Have I put away childish things?  Have I surrendered (or am I surrendering) the things of youth?

Photo taken on a recent run when I saw this mushroom growing out of a tree knot.

On the candle on my desk there is this quote attributed to “unknown” (he was one busy dude!):

“peace.  it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.  it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”

That if, of course, the perfect lead in to the song —  It Is Well With My Soul.

In The Way To Love Anthony DeMello writes about that pesky “love your enemies” admonition.  He posits four strategies:

Ask not “what is wrong with this person” but instead, ask “what does my irritation with this person tell me about me?”

Consider that my annoyance is from being forced to see something about my life I don’t care for.

Consider that my annoyance arises from the person not living up to my programed expectations.  Others might not be annoyed, or not annoyed as much.

Consider that the person, given history, background, etc. can’t help behaving how he/she does.

Well, that just sucks all the fun out of hating my enemies, and out of annoyance in general!

Reading the parable of the prodigal son this morning, Luke 15:11-32, I was struck by something that had not previously occurred to me – the pace.  We of course don’t know how much chronological time passed from when the younger son to take his “journey into a far country” to when he “wasted his substance on riotous living,” went into the fields to “feed swine,” and ultimately “began to be in want,” but it takes only four verses of the story.  It seemed pretty quick.  I imagine that to the son, the road to the “far country” seemed a damned sight shorter than the road back to his father and brother – though of course the distance was the same.  It occurs to me that this is reality.  The fall is always quicker/easier than the climb back up.  Still, we climb.

Photo taken on a walk this morning.

Reading Anthony DeMello’s contemplation Love One Another, he notes that love has for qualities.  The first quality is that love has “indiscriminate character.”  He writes:

“Take a look at a rose.  Is it possible for the rose to say ‘I shall offer my fragrance to good people and withhold it from bad people?’  Or can you imagine a lamp that withholds its rays from a wicked person who seeks to walk in its light?  It could only do that by ceasing to be a lamp.  And observe how helplessly and indiscriminately a tree gives its shade to everone, good and bad, young and old, high and low; to animals and humans and every living creature – even to the one who seeks to cut it down.”

It occurs to me that I can of course mount an argument for being discriminate with love, but it seems the white flag is the wiser option.