‘Don’t blow your top!’ my mom used to admonish my sister and
me if we were in danger of over-reacting and getting angry.
The earth itself seems to be blowing its top in the Canaries
just now. And it’s shaking up Melbourne. Honey bees are killing penguins in
South Africa. Covid continues to kill thousands.
Nature seems to be imitating human activity. Afghanistan and
Haiti are in melt-down; Tigray and Eritrea, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and so
on…
Like the lava flows in La Palma, rivers of refugees flow out
of disaster zones seeking peace, seeking safety, seeking acceptance. In Belorussia,
they are being treated like tennis balls, being shoved across the borders into neighbouring
EU countries, only to be pushed back into Belorussia. In the US, enforcement
officers on horseback brandish whips against Haitians cowering beneath a
bridge. In the Med and the English Channel, desperate people board flimsy
boats, first parting with all their cash, and are often welcomed into
internment camps before facing deportation.
‘Are you tired? Worn out?’ Jesus asks. ‘Come to me…I’ll show
you how to take a real rest…Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.’
I pray today for all those whose lives on earth are a daily challenge
to survive. May those of us who love Jesus be Jesus to the traumatised, the
exhausted, the frightened and the lost, wherever we meet them today. May we,
with our own challenges, walk in the unforced rhythms of grace, inspired and
strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
May I have learned the lesson my mom tried to teach me all those years ago, and not blow my top, but instead sink back into the loving arms of Jesus and trust him to direct my words and actions.
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