It's time #2

It’s time #2


Yesterday must have been a Monday. I’ve not had such a day before when so many cranky people were in the food court. Conversations careened off the walls: pooped out from partying and working all weekend, lack of money, broken cars, dying relatives, impending papers, poor grades, imploding dreams. I was exhaustedly loony by the time I finished my fried rice lunch. I wanted to make it all better by handing out pillows, checks, understanding, mufflers, experience with death issues, time for exhausted and note taking study. And grand dreams that were big enough and important enough to change the world. After I was finished with my Bruce Almighty, “If I were God I’d fix all this” act, I began to realize the miracle may be that we survive on campus at all.

You might be feeling stuck between wanting to have a value added life and being stuck in a prison. We’ve all developed wishes and dream lists which would, if we had them, cause us to aim high and succeed. We’ve also been handed or developed prisons of being stuck where we are. We want something better. “What is better and where is it?” we wonder.

We need a new perspective.

Yesterday, late afternoon, was gorgeous and the tree in the front yard has been shaggy and full of droopers—a deadly convergence of bad feng shui. Grabbing the tallest ladder we own, a tree saw, loppers and safety glasses, I readied myself for the onslaught of tree trimming destruction. First came the slow walk around the perimeter from the neighbors’ view, then closer examination at the drip line, and finally decisions concerning the excess branches. And now, onto the ladder.

The view from inside a tree when 10 feet in the air gave great pause. Everything looked different. Not to mention the queasy feeling of feeling every real and imagined wobble of the ladder. Gutsy grabs and tired arms later, the shabby lengths of green flooring were gathered on the ground. My grumpy neighbor came over and offered the use of two garbage cans for the limbs. I was so surprised I respectfully declined. While I thought I was creating space for new light and cheerful openness in the tree, Truth be told, I was unwilling to let a man out of his grumpy prison by accepting his offer of help. It’s one thing to want to change one’s self. It’s another to accept and encourage change in others. It’s called homeostasis, wanting nothing to change, or “I’d rather live with the devil I know than with the angel who will ask me to be new. “ On a deeper level, I’d rather lie to myself.

Rats, foiled again.

So here’s a job for the day: Spend five minutes today welcoming the gifts and abilities of someone else, and make it random, so it’s not just a mutual admiration society. Jesus did. One morning Jesus accepted the gift of someone who believed himself unworthy and one evening a similar styled gift of a woman. We can be more accepting of the gifts others bring if we reduce our narcissism by 5%--that’s not much, but we’ve all got the power!

The two stories:

Luke 5
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Luke 7
36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” 40Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” 41“A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” 43Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”