The green garden hose hangs limp, looped loosely round a
semi-rotten fence post. As the garden begins to stir, awakening after a few
months’ hibernation, the hose hangs. Most of the year, we have no need for a
garden hose. Given a good summer, we will need it to fill the paddling pool, wash
a filthy car, and, occasionally, to spray moisture over a thirsty garden.
When we need it, we need it.
The hose is like so much in life. Overlooked most of the
time, and only valued when a need presents itself. I never notice the dust
until visitors are coming. Overlooked. I never notice the newspapers strewn
round the floor, until I’m hosting Bible study. I don’t notice the drying and
dying potted geraniums until the person who gave them to me is coming.
I didn’t really take note of the horrifying injustices in
the U. S. criminal justice system until I learned more of the sad history of racial
injustice just before the recent execution of a ‘murderer’ who should have been
exonerated by the confession to the crime given by another man, but whose
innocence was ignored, even by the Supreme Court.
Jesus challenges us to be alert to the signs of the times.
Be ready for action. Speak out for the voiceless. Feed the hungry. Clothe the
naked. Open your doors to the homeless.
Maybe the owner of the house – the creator of the world –
will be back soon. It’s possible. I don’t want him to catch me napping, while
the furniture is dusty, newspapers litter the floor and the pot plants droop. Napping,
while children starve, people shiver, and injustice prevails.
