Two Strong Prongs
There is a rusty handheld garden digger tool that I use every few weeks. It has two prongs and while there is another such tool with an extra spike loitering about our chicken coupe, the old two-pronger always makes itself easily available when I feel like sweating buckets and filling wheel barrows full of clingy clover. The thing about weeding is, I keep at it knowing full well they will creep back up on the surface, even when I've pulled them out by root like dad told me to all those years ago. The same goes for evil. No matter how thoroughly it's scourged from the scene, it always manages to come back up to the surface. Every generation is a new gardener to the soil of world affairs, and in every generation there are seeds that spring up and leave those aware, absolutely aghast. How can it be? But it is. And always has been. There is nothing new under the sun.
There are two prongs to my trusty antiquated garden tool as there are to my thought processes these past few weeks. Both prongs are digging deep, churning through the soil of my mind, leaving me feel mighty uncomfortable and uncertain what to do about it.
Prong One: Gardeners AWARE.
This generation we live in, the one that holds headlines in their hands, are far more aware than ANY in our past. I wrote there is nothing new under the sun, and in terms of human suffering, this is likely true. In terms of communication (and it's speed), the phrase does not apply. In world wars in not-so-far past, women had to wait on wires, radios and newspapers to get their information. Even when I was a teenager, and hell was descending on Rwanda, unless I happened to catch the segment on NBC or the article in Newsweek while waiting to be called for my yearly teeth cleaning, it was not on my radar (although surely many were more informed than I). That was then. We are no longer living in the nebulous, turtle-speed of then.
Now we mama's fold our laundry we know that this very day another mama across the world (many of them) are watching their children die horrific deaths...we look at our daughters and know, at this very hour, someone else's daughter with big brown eyes is experiencing unimaginable prospects for the future. Today, as I passed out big juicy slices of Watermelon to my children, I could hardly bear the inequity of those who are absolutely incapable of passing any good thing to their children.
This heavy weight, this knowing is not all bad. At all. Without the interference of the second prong (which I will get to shortly), the knowing becomes an opportunity to slip out of our comfort and into a mode of urgency, stirs a movement of solemn solidarity that finally gives the God of the Heavens a sense of people rising together in His name. This knowing is not all bad, and in fact, allows our generation to participate and pull together before the throne like never before. Not that this impresses God,but surely He is heartened by a sense of all-hands-on-deck efforts from His children.
As for me, I am seeking ways to do this...tangibly. Maybe it will be showing up in a field with a candle and bunch of other women to show up at Heaven's throne together on behalf our sisters on a dark mountain across the ocean. Or maybe simply...repeatedly... earnestly... falling to my knees along with the countless others who are doing the same. There is still plenty of good going on in the darkness.
PRONG 2: THE FEAR FACTOR.
I keep thinking of Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself", mainly because I do fear and don't want to. I struggle with it and I deplore what it steals from me (and subsequently, my family). The thought of packing up and moving to the wildness where we dig a large, comfy hole to live in sounds more appealing with each day. It is hardly "what would Jesus do", but I justify it by saying we would pack a Bible and read it by lantern light in our hole, all cozy-like.
But then, after I hit a wall thinking about where I would get proper lighting to tweeze my chin in such a holey home (or, you know, how we could serve others), I consider that living under the rule of fear completely diminishes the power of the other prong. If fear wins, we lose. In gardening, if I lose a prong, my efforts are crippled. In the life of faith, if I live ruled by fear, I lose out on fully engaging the part God's carved out for me in the bigger, unseen storyline He's unfolding.
Still...
I think I could create enough natural light in our hole for efficient tweezing.
But I don't want to hide.
But I do.
This is where I am at.
****
There is now both an awareness of evil and an opportunity to storm the Heavens with prayers we don't even need words for on behalf of those who desperately need it.With every moment, I'm asking for faith to replace fear so that from my corner, there comes a strength that reaches across the ocean to the woman who desperately needs a shot of it. I can only imagine what God sees as He watches women who can, intercede for those who cannot. I hope they know, dear God, I pray they know that there is an army of us out there, who are with them.
Two strong prongs, they are what I reach for and what I attain to.
There are two prongs to my trusty antiquated garden tool as there are to my thought processes these past few weeks. Both prongs are digging deep, churning through the soil of my mind, leaving me feel mighty uncomfortable and uncertain what to do about it.
Prong One: Gardeners AWARE.
This generation we live in, the one that holds headlines in their hands, are far more aware than ANY in our past. I wrote there is nothing new under the sun, and in terms of human suffering, this is likely true. In terms of communication (and it's speed), the phrase does not apply. In world wars in not-so-far past, women had to wait on wires, radios and newspapers to get their information. Even when I was a teenager, and hell was descending on Rwanda, unless I happened to catch the segment on NBC or the article in Newsweek while waiting to be called for my yearly teeth cleaning, it was not on my radar (although surely many were more informed than I). That was then. We are no longer living in the nebulous, turtle-speed of then.
Now we mama's fold our laundry we know that this very day another mama across the world (many of them) are watching their children die horrific deaths...we look at our daughters and know, at this very hour, someone else's daughter with big brown eyes is experiencing unimaginable prospects for the future. Today, as I passed out big juicy slices of Watermelon to my children, I could hardly bear the inequity of those who are absolutely incapable of passing any good thing to their children.
This heavy weight, this knowing is not all bad. At all. Without the interference of the second prong (which I will get to shortly), the knowing becomes an opportunity to slip out of our comfort and into a mode of urgency, stirs a movement of solemn solidarity that finally gives the God of the Heavens a sense of people rising together in His name. This knowing is not all bad, and in fact, allows our generation to participate and pull together before the throne like never before. Not that this impresses God,but surely He is heartened by a sense of all-hands-on-deck efforts from His children.
As for me, I am seeking ways to do this...tangibly. Maybe it will be showing up in a field with a candle and bunch of other women to show up at Heaven's throne together on behalf our sisters on a dark mountain across the ocean. Or maybe simply...repeatedly... earnestly... falling to my knees along with the countless others who are doing the same. There is still plenty of good going on in the darkness.
PRONG 2: THE FEAR FACTOR.
I keep thinking of Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself", mainly because I do fear and don't want to. I struggle with it and I deplore what it steals from me (and subsequently, my family). The thought of packing up and moving to the wildness where we dig a large, comfy hole to live in sounds more appealing with each day. It is hardly "what would Jesus do", but I justify it by saying we would pack a Bible and read it by lantern light in our hole, all cozy-like.
But then, after I hit a wall thinking about where I would get proper lighting to tweeze my chin in such a holey home (or, you know, how we could serve others), I consider that living under the rule of fear completely diminishes the power of the other prong. If fear wins, we lose. In gardening, if I lose a prong, my efforts are crippled. In the life of faith, if I live ruled by fear, I lose out on fully engaging the part God's carved out for me in the bigger, unseen storyline He's unfolding.
Still...
I think I could create enough natural light in our hole for efficient tweezing.
But I don't want to hide.
But I do.
This is where I am at.
****
There is now both an awareness of evil and an opportunity to storm the Heavens with prayers we don't even need words for on behalf of those who desperately need it.With every moment, I'm asking for faith to replace fear so that from my corner, there comes a strength that reaches across the ocean to the woman who desperately needs a shot of it. I can only imagine what God sees as He watches women who can, intercede for those who cannot. I hope they know, dear God, I pray they know that there is an army of us out there, who are with them.
Two strong prongs, they are what I reach for and what I attain to.
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