“The world is loud and terrible this summer. It is as if the entire planet has tilted on its axis and dipped us all in nightmare,” writes Christie Purifoy over at There Is a River, and I must admit, I’m glad someone else feels it’s weight.
The militant Islamic State kills Christians and Yazidis, among others, in torturous ways. According to a recent Newsweek article Jews are once again facing increased persecution in Europe. People march in protest and riot over the dubious killing of teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri while the National Guard is brought in. Israel and Hamas spill blood over Gaza.
My heart has been weighed down by the terror and madness of the world. Powerless, has been the word that come to mind. I have felt like Habakkuk:
” Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.”
(Habakkuk 1:3-4)
I go about my life praying for the oppressed. I weed the garden, feeling the trivialness of doing so while so much heartache and bloodshed pour around the world. I do what I can where I live, give where I can to organizations who can reach where I can’t, sponsor children to give them tools for life and pray that such small things will make a lasting impact.
I seek peace and pursue it. I remember that God delights in love, justice, and righteousness. I print out Jones Design Company’s free artprint because I love Gary Haugen’s words: “Justice is doing for others what we would want for ourselves.”
I hope in God and “do small things with great love” (Mother Teresa).
Read this while procrastinating from writing my review of Interrupted – and in going back through my highlights found this quote from Robert F. Kennedy:
“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills–against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence. …Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
“It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
That is a great quote, Amy. Thanks for sharing. I love the “tiny ripple of hope” imagery.
Amy, That is a very encouraging quote.
Danielle, I have felt similar except when I pray. I know I am praying to the Great God who does not stand aloof to the events going on in our world today.
But I do have a hard time going on w my life that does feel so cushy, comfortable, entitled, easy and yes, trivial most of the time. I can even have a hard time at church knowing that others do not enjoy the freedoms of religious expression.
I want to stop everything in my world and do something. To plan school right now has been so hard. All I want to teach my kids is 1. How to pray 2. Survival skills (bc who knows when the same hardships that so many in other parts of the world are experiencing are coming to us?)
Such good words, Danielle! I am right there with you, doing small things and praying big prayers. Kingdom Come.