Just Do Your Part

For as long as I can remember, my husband selects a "theme word" for the New Year. Words like discipline, focus, gratitude just are a few. One year (2007) which started off rather well, he selected the words champagne and candlelight. Those fizzled quickly and other words like courage and strength  became our focus to lead us through a year of heartache and grief. We would wander through the next several years claiming words that would help us to simply breathe. Words like grieve,  survive, recover, and heal would steer us through those long, dark days. 

We never know where the year will take us, do we? 

This time last year we had no idea how carefree life was as we finalized  plans for a golf trip to Ireland and a family beach vacation early summer. Little did we know the carefree planning would turn into an unforgettable year - one of fear, heartache, uncertainty and confusion. A year that taught us much about ourselves, our neighbors, and the way in which we socialize, shop, and worship. New words came into use - like shelter-in-place and quarantine, and Zoom..

And now it seems each of us knows someone who did not survive this dreaded virus. Hearts are broken and lives are changed forever. Psalm 34:18 reminds us that "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and draws near to those who are crushed in spirit." When we cannot be close to our grieving friends, we can take comfort in asking God to be the arms around those who weep and mourn.

Elizabeth Kubler Ross, the Swiss American psychiatrist said, "It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."

And so, I guess it is fitting that this year's word is a phrase - Just Do Your Part. Living every day as if it is our only day left - it doesn't have to be spectacular. In fact, it can be as simple as picking up the dry-cleaning or making the chile the way he/she likes it. It might just be a friendly text - like today when my girlfriends texted about loving the Christmas season and leaving things up a little longer. All just doing their part to be kind to each other and have a little fun on a cold, wintry day.

What will your part be? When this year comes to a close - and it happens quickly - will you be able to say you did your part to help heal, to offer hope, to be kind, to forgive, to love, to learn and grow?

Eugene Peterson says it well in Romans 12:1-2

In God We Trust

I don't understand how so many of us are shocked at the White House security breach. Horrified, we watch and cry out, "This doesn't happen in America!" 

It doesn't?

If this sort of thing does not happen in America, then please tell me what has been going on for the last year. For probably over a year, we have watched similar breaches throughout our country -  businesses burned to the ground, cities destroyed, lives lost or changed forever and very seldom have we cried out "This does not happen in America!" 

No. Instead, we have watched the destruction across our land and called it a peaceful protest. 

We have read the statistics about the rate of homicides that have sky-rocketed across our beautiful America and we cannot help but wonder if this, too, is part of the breach in our divided country. When it hits home and a precious 7-year-old is murdered down the street from where I live, I'd say there is more than a security breach at our capital building, but a breaking down of our very neighborhoods.

Breach is defined, according to Webster, as an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct. It is also defined as a gap in a wall, barrier, or defense, especially one made by an attacking army. We could make a long list of "breaches" that have occurred in our community, our country, and our world throughout history. 

People have been disobeying the law for a long time. And there are consequences according to God's Law.  (I was recently reminded by a wise young woman that a distinction needs to be made between God's Law and Man's Law.) Read some of the Old Testament and you will see how over and over the Israelites disobeyed God. Over and over there were "breaches" where God removed himself and just let the people have their wicked ways. They suffered mightily, repented, and returned to God's favor. Not without consequences though. Look at poor Moses - he wandered around for 40 years in the desert because his people would not enter the land of plenty. And when Joshua led the people into the promised land poor Moses was not allowed to enter. Consequences. 

 These  words are all synonyms for the word "breach":

 fracture, crack, rent, opening, alienation, split, rift, schism, separation; dissension. 

Whatever you want to call it....however you wish to define it, we (as Christians) find ourselves more and more at a crossroads in our faith. Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God, calls this a "crisis of belief".  As Christians, we must decide - will we face the future armed with our faith intact? If so, then we must take action as we wait and watch to see where God is working. Staying close to the Lord, asking his guidance, seeking his will, is the best course of action when we are at a loss of what to do in a complex and confusing world. There would be fewer breaches if we all put God first.

I believe God is in total control of this breach, along with the many other fractures, separations, and cracks that we have all helped to create.  May He forgive us of our sins and guide us through to His Light.

In God We Trust.