The Five-minute Seed

“If all you can do is to be kind to yourself for five minutes, even one minute, a day, do it. Rejoice in those five minutes.” My counselor sat across from me in her small office with the soft yellow light. I thought about her curly hair and about her baby on the way.

“I’ll try,” I said, standing. “But what the heck does that actually look like?”

I went home to my little house in Villa Heights. Despite its elegant name, my hood knows only two dances: down-home two-step, or the fast-foot-shuffle-from-the-fuzz. Grabbing a shovel, I walked out into the yard, inhaled the warm air, and stared at the evidence of someone else’s neglect: the azaleas overtaken by ivy; the back-broken, barbed-wire fence; the trees with dislocated limbs. I cannot do this by myself, I thought, feeling small and alone, not knowing where to start.

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to some Romans (chapter 8, verses 22–27) who believed that Jesus was just the man for such jobs. He compared the earth to a woman groaning in labor. What does a mother want when she is in labor? Deliverance from pain—and the joy and relief that comes when the anticipated one finally arrives.

Paul said our souls groan in the same way. We ache for secret longings; for someone to deliver us from pain; for joy, for relief. Jesus lived and conquered death for one reason: that we would believe that he is real and that he will do what he said he will do … rescue us.

So we work, and we wait.

In this in-between time, Paul said that Jesus’ spirit translates our groaning and desperation into words we can’t express on our own. As I sliced the earth in my front yard with the shovel blade, I thought about how five minutes of kindness might be a similar kind of prayer. Why uproot lies and replant kindness? Why clear ivy, mend fences, or reset bones? This blog is an invitation to take up the task of tending to your soul—even if for five minutes of beauty a day—until the anticipated one finally arrives. This is a place where you can start replanting.

Terry Jones...Again?

I can’t believe I am writing about Terry Jones again. The pastor who threatened to burn Qur’ans last year made good on his word last month. Apparently the reasons to abstain from this particular public display (public safety, protection for our troops) were outweighed by the importance of the message of warning the world against Muslim extremism.

On the other side of the world, at least a dozen people have been murdered as a result of riots in Afghanistan in reaction to Jones’ Qur’an burning.

I am dumbfounded that one act by one man in Florida can spark incendiary ripples that influence people he’s never seen or met in Afghanistan. I am grieved and disappointed by how he chose to use that influence. We live in a country where the right to burn Qur’ans is protected, even if not condoned. At the end of the day, Terry Jones can burn whatever books he wants.

But that doesn’t mean he should.

In reading and listening to interviews with this pastor, I have been disturbed by his automaton-like response to the deaths of UN workers – “The responsibility should be laid upon the people who committed the acts….The recent events are an example of the violent nature of Islam. Just because a book was burned, they used this as an excuse to retaliate.”

This “see! They are violent!” response lacks any compassion for the people who were killed, deflects any responsibility for inciting the riots, and ultimately preaches a “gospel” of passive-aggressive hate-mongering. This is a far cry from what Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Paul is free, and he uses his freedom not to burn books, but to become a slave to all so that he might be a participant of the Gospel.

Terry Jones didn’t pull a trigger. He didn’t lay hands on people and murder them. It would be condescending to suggest that the murderers who did this are so incapable of independent thought that they are absolved of responsibility. Hear me: they are culpable. They are despicable.

But Terry Jones has influence, God help him. And what did Terry Jones do with his influence? Did he share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His grace and salvation? Has the word “Jesus” even come up at all in any of his interviews? Let’s say people watch Terry Jones burn Qur’ans and somehow are led to accept the message that Islam is violent. Then what? What are they turning to?

In Acts 19:23-46, Paul is involved in inciting a riot, and this is the kind of influence I pray that believers strive for. Businessmen and shrine makers are disturbed by Paul’s message because people are being pulled toward Gospel and away from the shrine of Artemis. Paul didn’t hold a public shrine-burning. Paul preached the Gospel.

Terry Jones’ message is more about sensation than salvation, more condemnation than compassion. Our quest as Christians is to aid in saving lives through sharing the healing and transformative message of the Gospel.

sticks & stones

Last week…..was crazy. Not just a little crazy, but CUH-RAZY, with a lot of heartbreak and exhaustion thrown in. But FRIDAY was coming…with a great big gift of 2 whole hours in the morning all to myself, hanging out with some fabulous women, getting to hear a fantastic speaker, while the children were safely tucked away in childcare. I was a little giddy.

But giddy quickly turned to grumpy, because the speaker (for me) was a punch in the gut dressed in pink. Hear me, I don’t think it was her intent to discourage…she meant to motivate. But here are a few of the things I heard, and the way my thought process interacted:

We were married for 35 years and had only had 5 fights (we had that many yesterday).

Don’t ever wear shorts & t-shirts to bed, because he needs to be reminded that you’re not just one of the guys (I think he’s aware, even if I crawl in bed in a paper bag).

Be sure to keep the pounds off, because he notices those things (and I don’t?).

And it was all backed up with Scripture…it felt like the Word handled in such a way that it was thoughtlessly slicing me to pieces, instead of surgically removing the way Hebrews 4:12-13 has in mind (thank you for planting that image in my brain, Sharifa!). I had to leave early. It was just making me cranky.

A good reminder for this chica that WORDS count. They mean something.

Had the chance to visit with my first grader’s teacher this week. She asked us to help Kitty with her words…because her “big sister” role was showing with the other kids in the class. “She just has the tendency to be harsh when something needs to be corrected.” SIGH. “She’s just doing what she sees her mother doing,” I managed to convey to the teacher, anguished once again that (in addition to handing down their sin nature) I model many specific sins very clearly for my kids on a daily basis. (I did get a BIG hug from her teacher at this confession, and real encouragement).

So, a reminder. Words count. BIG. Proverbs talks about the fact that our words can heal, or destroy. I Corinthians reminds us that, even if we have the most beautiful, most thoughtful, most excellent things to say, if they are said without love, they’re just NOISE. The old sticks & stones adage – it’s garbage. Words cut…they bruise…and they can ruin perfectly good weekends.