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A letter from Rev. Marya DeCarlen
Lent 2010
“When all were all asleep, the snow came flying”(sic)…begins the poem by Robert Bridges. “the eyes marveled at the dazzling whiteness. To some snow is troublesome, to others it is stunning. The challenge of the snow is not that it came but how we react to it. How we react to things which come our way tells a lot about who we are. Lots of things come our way which are beyond our control. The challenge is how we react. For example, if we are waiting for a friend and the friend is very late, do we respond by berating our friend when she arrives? Or do we greet her cheerfully. If we rush into the grocery store for a quick purchase and get held up at the check out, do we respond by grumbling at the cashier? Or do we give the cashier encouragement. When we get home after a hectic day at work do react by taking it out on our family, or do we treat our family with kindness and respect. Everyday living presents everyday challenges. But the real challenge is how we react. A prayer we say in Church asks that God might “so bless us this day that we might be a blessing to all whom we meet.” The prayer recognizes that Christians are called to be a blessing. We are called to bless not just the world in its big issues but to bless those around us everyday. It is no good for any of us to campaign for more aid to developing nations, or to seek nuclear disarmament if we are dismissing our family, friends, or cashiers.
Our call is to end every day trusting that by the grace of God we have encouraged those around us on their way. Of course, we shall fail sometimes. We choose to ignore acknowledging blessings or we decide it is too much work to encourage their gifts. Sometimes we will depress people rather than bless them or diminish their humanity rather than build them up. But these occasional lapses is no excuse for ongoing bad behavior. We have no excuses for infecting those around us with anxiety, despondency and loss of self esteem. Our calling as Christians is to be a source of hope, of courage, of affirmation to all whom we meet.
In Robert Bridges poem, the snow is a challenge. The challenge is in how people react. The same applies to all our living…In whatever comes our way it is how we react that matters. Our prayer is that God will help us offer courtesy, honesty, cheerfulness and grace. For snow or no snow we are called to be a blessing to all whom we meet everyday. AMEN
Marya+ |
