just thoughts...

I read over my multiple blogs a day, and can only see a testimony of the amount of free time I have on my hands. That expression, free time, it’s sad to me. The word time in today’s society represents something we have become enslaved to. I look at society around me, and in my desperate plea for community, realize it has been lost with our enslavement to time. We are enslaved to money, because it makes the world go round, and without it we believe we cannot survive. We are enslaved to titles and appearance… Success screams out to us with its demands. We stop our busy schedule to go to church on Sunday morning, and engage in an hour or so service that draws us back to the Almighty one, and offers us peace. Yet Monday morning we awake to the call of the alarm clock the ringing of the phone with it’s demands. But why? What are we laboring for? I have been so caught up in getting myself ahead I have forgotten that the people around me are not just faces, but souls.
I sat across the table from the mother of one of the children I tutor. After an assessment of her child had to bear the bad news that her daughter was farther behind than we expected. I had a peace about it. After all, I reassured her, that in time we would get her caught up. I looked into the eyes of the woman and God spoke to my heart, do not speak to her mind, speak to her soul. I looked down quickly, mildly embarrassed that I had forgotten she was my ministry in that moment, and looked back up into her gaze and with much assurance said, after all, god did not place these expectations on her, the school system did, so we will teach her with her heart, and not just the books…
I once lived a life without anything. I look back and see how stressed I should have been, but yet how God provided at every turn of my life exactly what I needed in each moment. I was at peace. My pace was a slow pace because it was lived in the rhythm that God had set before me.
I suppose that for some the rhythm God has set for them is one of a fast paced life; where stress does not affect them, where they are at peace in the midst of chaos. I also suppose that this is why I am a burden bearer, I see stress and want to help alleviate the pressure that the standards of the world have placed on the individual.
When I was in the Philippines there was a house that we visited often. It was a rich family with three kids; their names I do not remember. However, the father of this household was a leader in the community, perhaps of the government I don’t recall the exact status of his family standings. The house was always stressful as a matter of fact I can recall taking a big breath before entering and thinking silently to myself here we go… It was as if he thought that stress made him appear to be more important and needed, and after all isn’t that what validates a person, being needed? On the third floor of the house however, there lived three children. It was not until my second visit that I excused myself to go see where all the laughter was coming from. As I opened the door at the top of the stairs I startled three children rather greatly! They all quickly stood to their feet looking down at the floor out of respect. I looked over two little girls and one little boy. The youngest of them, a girl, looked up at me with curiosity; why had I come upstairs? She smiled at me, as I quietly laughed. In that very moment I was pulled into the biggest pillow fight I had ever been in. Laughs rang out until we were all too tired to laugh anymore.
As we all laid on the floor breathing deeply the oldest girl spoke up, “Our nanny has the night away on Tuesdays” she said. “Which is why we play here, we are not to get along with the adults.”
“Why is that?” I aksed her.
“Tatay says we can make it hard for people to focus on his words.”
“Do you think His words are so important?” I asked the girl.
She looked at her brother for a little help with the answer to what could have come across as a tricky question.
The boy spoke quietly, “We don’t believe his words.”
I didn’t really say anything just looked back into the eyes of three children who had been sent to the third story of their house so as not to be a distraction. In the eyes of those children that man had failed to be all he said he was, and so they did not believe him at his words, sad.
What was more important? That that man provide in excess for his family? That he kept up all his business relationships? Or the three little kids up stairs who had lived with the man their whole life, and only learned not to trust him?
This is not an attempt to enlighten a person on family, because family is only part of the picture. But what of the woman who serves you at the grocery store? Or the delivery boy who delivers your pizza? What of the baby sitter who you entrust the lives of your children to? (that was a loaded question). Does it only matter the amount of time we study for an exam? Or the grade we receive for our efforts in a certain class? Does it matter that we give 110% of ourselves in our work that we might be the best for the Glory of the Lord, but fail to see the people around us that need community?
Community is not just about us receiving, but about us giving back into it. For once, open your door, and realize you have something to give back to community. More than your business and your finances. More than your intellect and your efforts. You have a soul that has been touched by Jesus Christ; a powerful touch at that. Open your door and touch others… See the joy that comes when you understand the laughter at the top of the stairs. Life is not defined by titles or social status, but by the touch with which you have been touched with, and with which you touch others. Impact.