TGIF

“We live in an age where the amount of daily information we receive that should enrage or grieve us far exceeds our capacity to bear it. Only God can bear all the sorrows of the world. We, on the other hand, have to choose what sorrows to bear. This is complicated, but true.”

Brian Zahnd

I had to take another ambulance ride last night… more heart issues.

As is my custom, I waited for the paramedics outside on the curb.

Smokey came out of his house and sat quietly beside me.

I had to make other calls to let my people know I may be unable to do the things that I normally do that are expected of me…Smokey simply was present, wanting nothing but for me to know he was there.

When I got to my feet to get in the ambulance,Smokey walked with me and  then sat quietly observing it all as if making sure they were doing what needed to be done properly.

When I came back home he was sitting outside my door…keeping a watch until I returned.

His silent witness of friendship moves me more than it should…or maybe not as much as it should.

As the doctors and nurses sought to diagnose the reason for my racing pulse and erratic heart rhythm his presence at the curb still comforted me as I was thinking…thinking about what was happening and more so about the effects that what was happening would have on others.

I might not be able to get out in time to take T to work so his already overburdened mom would have to do so.

This was going to impact people and I was ashamed.

That’s when she showed up in the room.

Present.

I prefer to suffer alone, but have begun to realize that isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

I talked to T on the phone…it’s going to be alright….I never know if it’s going to be alright, but that’s what we both needed to hear me say.

I’ll share with you that I never for a moment thought about Joe Biden, Donald Trump, any social issue or political controversy.

I thought about my God and my my family, and whether I had loved both well…and if not… if I would be granted the time to do better.

They knocked me out, shocked me back into rhythm, and sent me home.

I did not have to call a cab…my own took me home.

I tell you all of this because some of you are carrying things that you were not meant to carry and you’ve had to drop other things…more important things… to bear the weight.

The world is a broken place.

You can’t fix it.

We are finite and oh, so mortal.

What we can do is be a witness to a greater love and we will always bless more with a simple presence than with anything else.

You mend the world by tending to what is closest to you.

Smokey did his part.

My family did theirs.

No one noticed but God…and me.

I get to pick T up from work…and that will be my holy contribution today to the healing of the world.

It’s not much, but it’s everything….and it’s what I can do.

I’m grateful I get to do so…and thankful that it matters to God that I do what I can… instead of trying to do what I can’t.

Make your own application…