Keeping still long enough

Frenzy sometimes creates a necessity for discernment.

A hurried pace shakes up all the thoughts,
creating a muddy jumble of ideas, lists and places to be.
Prolonged busy-ness creates conflict of interest;
sometimes creating a haze around one's heart.
Our purpose and choice can be as clear as the ocean on a stormy day
or the river water churned up during a flood
full of mud and silt that we can not find the bottom or the top.

I've used this jar lesson before, a lesson borrowed from my favorite preacher, Pastor Stefan. You fill a jar with water and sand/dirt. You shake it up and then you set it down. The idea is to measure how long it takes for the water to become clear. The lesson is that it takes longer than you think. This particular jar took over a day to get all settled.

I think I get impatient waiting for the dust to settle and the water to become clear. As soon as things get a little clear i get hopeful and energized and begin to move fast again; jumping to conclusions. Soon I am right back to muddied waters again. Sometimes if I could just wait in silence a bit longer, the truth would be so much clearer.

Stillness is great but patience is needed too.

I'm thinking about words of wisdom from the Good Book again.

Be still and know.
Be still and wait on the Spirit of Love.

It reminds me of a song I used to sing as a kid (based on Isaiah)

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with Wings as Eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
they shall walk and not faint
Teach me Lord, to wait.

So how do I want my life to be?
I'd like the clear clean water please.

Oh Spirit of Love, God of Peace

Teach me to wait in stillness.

may you each have a wonderful sabbath,

jules

Investing in My Future (Graduation 2010)

It's Sunday, June 6, 2010. The newspaper and the media remind us it's D-Day, a time to remember when courageous and determined Allied troops stormed the beaches and changed the direction of World War II, an echo that is still rippling through history. I confess, I take their contribution for granted.

I'm not from a military family. I'm from a missionary family; a different sort of soldier in the fight against what we perceive as the darkness. So today is special to me because I'm wallowing in the sunshine of a new day. Yesterday my youngest son, youngest child graduated from Patrick Henry High School. He's pictured here with two of his friends.

I'm extremely proud of all three of these boys. They've worked hard to overcome life's obstacles to get to graduation day. They each have a story to tell of loss and hardship. For one, his brother died of cancer when he was just 8 and his brother only 11. For another, his older brother dropped out of high school and his dad left. For the third, he's more or less raised himself without much parental support or guidance. They've each had the opportunity to use their lives as excuses to give up and not try. And yesterday they walked up on the stage and took their reward. I'm proud to know them and to have had them all spend time with us in our home. But there's more to this story than that.

D-day is day to remember that if we persevere and join forces we can change the tides and move mountains. One of those mountains that we've worked for generations to move in this country is prejudice. As I have gotten to know the friends of my three boys and watched them interact with one another in person and on Facebook, I have come to realize that the tide has turned. I am so excited to be seeing in my lifetime a movement from segregation to tolerance to celebration of differences. The three boys pictured above are friends, good friends and their circle is truly much bigger and much more diverse than the three of them. They don't just merely tolerate each other as different, they celebrate it. They don't avoid words like black or white or Asian, they use them with joy. They know the challenges are steep but they see each person in their circle as having the same potential to overcome those challenges. It is almost as if prejudice has been erased. My spine tingles at the thought that in my son's lifetime we will move from focusing on the haves and have-nots to celebrating that we are all one community. My son and his friends are just the sort of people to bring us back to a strong sense of community, a strong sense of family, albeit redefined, and a stronger, healthier nation.

While I'm at it, I can't resist putting in a plug for Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis; a place that has created an atmosphere where everyone can excel and pursue passion; where everyone can feel they are part of community. For 11 years I've had my sons at Henry and in all those years, I've rarely heard talk of gangs and prejudice and bullying (although there has been some ). Mostly what I've heard is groaning over presentations to give, long papers to write and laughter as they all enjoy the company they find there. I'm grateful to Henry for providing excellent academics and citizenship. Bravo!

So now it's D-Day. It's time for us to once again join forces and invest in the future of these brilliant young people. Please take the time to get to know them. If you know one of them is struggling, help them find a way out of it. They are young and have many obstacles to overcome yet in their lives, but we can learn a lot from them about moving mountains of darkness and celebrating differences while teaching them what we know about growing older and wiser through grace and messiness. Invest in your future. Invest in my future. Get to know a young person and discover hope for the human race.

Peace,

jules