The word reconcile means to make friendly after estrangement, or to harmonize and make compatible. This is easy to say but not so easy to do. How many times are we asked to reconcile something? The World Day of Prayer theme “Challenged To Reconcile” is one that the whole world needs to consider now, more than ever before.
The citizens of Romania have seen many changes in their lifetime.
After the second world war they came under
Communist rule for 45 years. In 1989 communism was overthrown
but the country has been struggling economically, politically and socially.
The country is being rebuilt gradually, but there is much hardship.
How can their citizens facing unemployment and poverty learn
to survive in their country or in the world?
I think that it has to be a personal choice before it can be
a National or International choice. Each one has to look
inside ourselves and our relationship with Christ and his teachings.
The only person we can truly change is ourselves so where do we start?
My first thought was: I can change how I react to things and I was reminded
of a quote by Charles Swindoll:
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home.
The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change our past.. we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our Attitudes.” End Quote.
Let us put this to the test, think of a moment today or in
the past few days where anger or frustration was the emotion you felt.
Now think about how you reacted to that situation. If Jesus
was standing next to you how would he have wanted you to handle it?
I am not proud of some of the choices I’ve made in some situations but
I always placate myself by saying I’m not perfect, but I am forgiven
as a Christian. If I’m challenged to reconcile by God what
could I be doing differently how can I make things
compatible in this angry world that I live in? It seems
like an impossible mission but I am reminded that all things are possible
for those that are in and with God.
I was away at a Health & Safety conference a few weeks
ago and I heard a slogan that is used by the Health & Safety
Committee at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Limited: Don’t Walk By! It
seems like a simple slogan but if you really think about it, the
ramifications of such an action, would be earth shattering.
I think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan only the one person
“Didn’t Walk By” but felt compassion for the injured man, bound his wounds,
put him on his donkey and took him to an inn where he paid for the man’s
care out of his own pocket and promised to pay whatever he owed on his
return visit. In our daily life
if we made the effort “Not to Walk By” we would see many opportunities
to help, perhaps an overtired Mother yelling at a child in the grocery
store, a weary senior citizen with a bag of groceries a little fuller and
heavier than he had anticipated, or a child who had forgotten which home
she was supposed to go to after school. How much time would
it take from our busy lives to answer the nudging call from God that we
could do something to help.
Perhaps we too could practice Not Walking By. I believe that
Oprah Winfrey was one of the first people to talk about practising random
acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. I remember the first
time I was on the receiving end of someone’s random act of kindness,
I had driven down to the Cancer Clinic in Vancouver via Burnaby to pick
up my mother and I was trying to find a parking place close to the elevator
knowing that mom would not want to walk far after her Chemotherapy treatment
and a young woman was just parking her car in the spot I had hoped to park
in. She looked up at the disappointment on my face and got back
into her car and said “you can have this one, I’m just leaving.”
I thanked her very much but when I saw her upstairs in a chemotherapy chair
across the room from my mom getting her treatment, I realized the enormity
of her act of kindness. I resolved to make someone else’s day just
a little better. Kindness and consideration takes on a life of its
own, others respond and the kindness is passed on. I know that
the people who report the evening news or the newspaper barons don’t think
that Good News sells but I truly would like to have a whole week of nothing
but reports of random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty, how
about you? A constant meal of road rage, pig farms, missing
children and wars have me very fed up.
Once we have decided to alter our attitude to situations and do something
good and kind for others how do we keep these resolutions from falling
by the wayside like that of many New year’s Eve ones. Motivation
was the answer that came to mind. As a parent and educator I have
been faced many times with the task of trying to motivate a child or student
and it is not
easy. I am reminded of a joke I had been told about a young
boy who had a terrible time trying to learn math at school and even though
his parents hired tutors, sent him to private schools, and helped him nightly
with his homework he still brought home just passing marks. That was
until they enrolled him in a Catholic School and only five days into his
new school his
math marks shot up and stayed up. For the first time in his
life he brought home a report card with an A in math. What changed
asked his parents, how were you motivated to work so hard and do so well
in math? Well, answered the young boy when I went into the math class
and saw the body nailed to the plus sign, I knew they were serious about
math at that school.
Perhaps this young boy's answer can also inspire us especially
during this time of lent. The body that hung on the cross (or plus
sign) was given out of love for us. Can we do anything less?
As we go on our Lenten Journey towards Easter Morning let each of us give
the world the gift only we can give, ourselves! If everyone of us
in this room let our little light shine brighter and truly
ask: (in the words of hymn we just sang) Is it I Lord? And
answer: I will go Lord if you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart.
What a revolution we could be a part of, from this stressed little
town of Squamish to Romania, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine and world wide.
By joining us tonight in this World Day of Prayer where we have been "Challenged To Reconcile" each of you are beginning a journey that could change the world. Remember we are not alone, we live in God’s world and in him anything is possible, Praise God!
Written in prayer with God, delivered by messenger, Judi Rhodes