I promised you some of the conclusions I'd drawn re:my recent funk, or at least the now conscious awareness of things that likely will never resolve, so here goes.
1.) The whole serving the poor, social justice thing is not just about helping others.
But, it is not necessarily all about me feeding my ego and deriving fulfillment and self-worth from it, either.
The first one is what I clung to when I was more married to my work than to my family, and yet the second premise is what many women at church saw in me while I was working. Some called me on it, and it used to make me so very angry - I felt judged for wanting to use talents for a godly cause simply because I happened to collect a paycheck for it.
It was a blindspot of sorts, because I was rather liking the feedback of doing good and important things.
So the truth of the matter is that this drive in me is complex and fueled by a number of motivations, all of which I can now admit to and accept. Period. After all, do we censure men who get a lot of fulfillment and self-identity from their careers, be they turning wrenches, crunching numbers or leading societal missions?
2.) I'm not dissing on SAHMotherhood by having these convictions to do more.
I realize that my impact on the world is not just what I myself do, but what I teach my children to do as well.
I get that, and understand that fully. Which is part of why I feel a need to find a way to do more for others rather than just our family, because if I model living a life where we simply take care of our own, what are my children likely to do?
Exactly: lather, rinse, repeat. And so a cycle of insular living is perpetuated.
3.) Spiritual implications....
I was pretty convicted by the scriptures in our class Sunday.
...true religion is this, caring for the widows and the orphans....
...but Lord, when did we see you thirsty?...naked?...hungry?...
And so on.
But that's not to say that doing kind things for the poor is what saves us.
And it's not to say that everybody is going to be called to or led to ministry to the poor. Ya know the whole which part of the body of Christ are you, and not making everyone into the SAME person/part, right?
But I ought to evaluate where I am laying up my treasures. And where I have become complacent.
And, there's still more....but kid duties call.....
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Hey Heather,
ReplyDeleteLike the thoughts in this one. I think you are looking at the target and firing in the right direction. I think it is important to find some type of "fulfillment" in the areas of your life especially when you serve. Now I understand what you mean that it was what you "clung to". But life is really just a series of us living and seeing the imbalances and then adjusting to make the balance. Once service is apart of our life I think the kicker is in knowing the people you are serving and knowing them intimately.
I say all this to address your last thought that not everyone is called to serve in this way, and I would say that in this area I would disagree. I think that all people who claim the kingdom of God, or any religion for that matter, have a responsibility to serve the society in which they live. We like to make excuses as to why we can't or how we give a our financial support to those areas and such, but you really only understand the need for compassion and love like that of Christ when you get in there with those people and serve them. Essentially this is why we have the healthcare "issue", because the Jesus loving folks have gotten way to comfortable with their American way of life and have forgotten about the Jesus way of life. The response by many is why should I have to pay for and care for other people, they got themselves into this mess they can get themselves out. That response is NEVER a Jesus response. This is an inconvenient truth for many, they want to think that they don't have to do this, but the reality is they do, we all do, not exception. How else is the world going to be any different if those who claim Jesus are not authentic extreme examples of him.
He went to the cross and he gave it all. Our evangelical movement says the common claim," so we don't have to." But again this is good intentions with a great metaphor, that we have taken too far. Jesus went to the cross so we could see how to live, what we are called to do, and what happens to those who follow the call. Not so that we don't have to do anything. I think it is a whole lot less about believing the right things and a lot more about a response a change Does that make since? I love your thinking here and how you are probing both in your own life and the life of others to think about this stuff. Conversation about these things is the beginning of change. Katie