Saturday, October 04, 2014

No Reason

When the news from overseas proves a little too hard to bear even with a quiet turning down of the head in silence, what is there to do?

When she peeks at her sleeping babies piled with blankets and knows that many faraway Someones lost their babies today, what response can a woman have as she turns again to that machine filled with signs of a full and messy life?  And the sorrow hangs heavy like the the dripping shirts and mismatched socks on the line and the sun sets in red and splendor the world over but that same sunset is not so quiet everywhere. 


And even a short way down the road, in the house with the children who don't have enough to eat or enough to wear and where is the Father who clothes the daisies when the children hurt?

He whispers, "This is not the way it is meant to be."  

His voice echoes through the ages: "It is very good," but that statement crashes loudly into the seeping stench of selfish ambition and evil pride with every news flash.  

But she reads this incredible picture of a Father's love even to the rebellious who have hated Him:  

"When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son... 

it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.  

I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them."  
(Hosea 11:1-4)

He is a God of love and He can be trusted to care tenderly for the suffering even when her hands hang helpless at her sides.

So she lingers on this and teaches this to those in her care in word and deed so that when it's time to bend down to feed the hungry, they will all take up the spoon as their weapon.  So when the time comes to follow God's call in the world their hearts will be open and tender to the brokenhearted and the wounded and the oppressed and that they would remind each other of His love for them and all His children.  So they will have courage and joy and love that has no reason or answer but Christ.










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