To stay on schedule of this weekly reflection, I bring this short note to you the day after probably one of the most highly tensed election seasons in the United States (US). As I compose this, I am weary, I am slightly mentally tired, and I am highly concerned. Although, I wasn’t born in the US, what I have witnessed in front of me and in my rearview mirror this year, 2020, has been mind boggling. Experiences have been confusing, threatening, surprising, saddening, and unswerving. Unswerving in the sense that some items have been planted in the ground of deceit, hatred, and spitefulness. And, they just continue to be multiplied like an avalanche blocking my path and like the sun beating on my head calling for compassionate protection.
Another election has moved within our ken, and within my stillness there’s longing for a world built on what Jesus wants for all of us. My current questions…When will we grab hold of these tools as a society? When will we call for help from Him in times of confusion, at the moment we utter words of unkindness and wrath? Can our destructive natures cease? The destruction of ourselves, those around us, of this earth God has given to us…When?
Parker Palmer said this:
“When faithfulness is our standard, we are more likely to sustain our engagement with tasks that will never end: doing justice, loving mercy, and calling the beloved community into being.”
And then there’s Hope!
Hope fills our cup every morning when the sun rises to meet us, to greet us. Like purple paint spilling on white tiles, we must allow hope to overflow into our current situations, feelings, and irrepressible circumstances. Like this purple paint, let’s allow hope to take its own route as it spills into us. This smooth and beautiful texture! With a gentle nudge, may we allow hope to remove our fear, stains, and doubts. Hope as Holy Spirit, to move our direction, toward a life of meaning. Hope of integrity, to do what is right, every time, like Jesus. Hope as God, to lead us to peace, guiding us from conflicts to resolutions.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10
Let’s allow hope to lead us to steady and high as heavenly ground, where we are hugged and cared for by Our Father. Such to me this is time of Hope! Again, and again! Yes, that Hope, which in me, is undimmed.
We will get through this together!
With all my love,
Charlotte