Goodness Still Abounds

 

I began 2024 with the idea that goodness abounds.

As the year has marched forward,

I have subconsciously allowed that thought to be overshadowed by

Division, bitterness, reactivity, us-against-them thinking, and feelings of being stuck.

I haven’t meant to do it.

I have simply absorbed the energy of the culture.

 

For months now,

My quiet angst has come out in deep sighs and a furrowed brow.

I haven’t necessarily been able to pinpoint one thing that’s been wrong.

It’s just been a negative energy that

Has left me feeling heavy and burdened.

 

I mentioned this on Monday,

But there is just so much hurt.

And it’s not simple hurt.

It’s layer upon layer upon layer of brokenness.

It’s complicated grief,

Complex trauma,

Systemic poverty,

Religious abuse,

Socio-economic inequality, and

Corrupt politics.

 

When I think about the complexity of these things,

I get overwhelmed.

 

Thank God for the sigh.

Thank God that the Spirit intercedes for us when we cannot find the words to say.

Thank God for hearing prayers that fall from our eyes.

And thank God for friends who send words of encouragement or challenge at just the right time.

 

I posted this last week,

But I think it is worth repeating today.

It’s a prayer that I adapted from the words of my dear friend Elizabeth Jones Edwards.

Her words reminded me that goodness really does abound,

And that it starts with me.

 

May you remember that, too.

And may we have eyes to see that, even in the heaviness,

Goodness abounds.

 

Oh God:

 

We are allowing religious and economic politics to divide us.

We are allowing the outside voices of politicians and pundits to control us.

Forgive us.

And help us to remember that we are the ones with the power to reshape our culture and rediscover connection.

 

Help us to remember that

Each of us, by our daily choices and attitudes, has the power to shape our culture for good.

To show kindness to the people we meet.

To turn down the divisive rhetoric and speak words of healing and peace.

To stop calling one another names, assuming the worst about situations, and making enemies about people we don't know or understand.

To be generous and forgiving and humble and loving as our faith calls us to do.

Each of us has the choice to include instead of divide,

To refuse to participate in the meanness and vitriol. 

 

Help us, God.

Help us to remember.

Help us to get to know one another,

Not as adversaries or enemies to defeat,

But as neighbors and friends and fellow travelers

whose well-being in this nation and on this planet is inextricably tied to our own.

 

Amen.

 

And amen. 

God's Goodness

 

I've come to believe that God has created us to be co-creators--

That art and inventions,

Computations and mental functions,

Occur with and alongside God.

And God is good.

God exists in the good we create.

God exists in light, love, happiness, and joy.

God exists in justice, mercy, grace, and peace--

And not just passive peace,

But peace that comes from living into the goodness of God.

God wants us to exist within God's goodness,

And God's goodness is always there.

 

Sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes people and systems make choices that hurt us.

Sometimes we are faced with difficult situations to which we see no obvious solution.

Yet when things arise that point us into God's goodness,

Then those opportunities are the ones that we should take.

Sometimes doors will fling wide open,

And it will seem as if God has prepared a way just for us.

Sometimes doors will creak open and

We will wonder which path to take.

Sometimes doors won't open at all,

And it will seem like we are at a dead end.

Sometimes we will have to choose what to do next.

Sometimes we will have to use the minds that God has given us to think:

Where is goodness?

Where is light?

Where is hope and help and

What allows me to live into my giftedness and to serve in the body of Christ?

What brings possibility?

What brings peace?

What simply feels "right"?

 

So we make the best choices that we can,

And then we go.

We serve.

We live.

Every day.

Creating and seeking good.

For God is good.

And God exists in goodness alone,

Working with us in and through all circumstances to create more good

In this broken, hurting world.

Beloved

 

My dad bangs on the wall each morning to make sure I’m awake.

Sometimes I am. Sometimes I’m not.

Sometimes I immediately get up. Sometimes I forget.

Sometimes I make it downstairs while breakfast is still cooking. Sometimes I make it downstairs after it’s done.

Sometimes dad is sitting at the table doing his morning devotionals. Sometimes he’s moving about.

Sometimes we have a morning conversation. Most of the time we do not. Because I’m really very bad at mornings!

 

Last Wednesday, as I was sleepily trying to get myself together,

Dad said, “I want to read you something from my Nouwen book. It’s quite profound.”

And so he read:

 

“One of the greatest dangers in the spiritual life is self-rejection. When we say, ‘If people really knew me, they wouldn’t love me,’ we choose the road toward darkness. Often we are made to believe that self-deprecation is a virtue, called humility. But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation. It is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection, we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God’s beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth.” (Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey)

 

Then my dad added, “We are God’s beloved children.

I think I fail to accept that sometimes.

And I think that not accepting it has caused me to make a lot mistakes and feel a lot of heartache and depression over the course of my life.”

My dad is 81.

 

I didn’t say anything in the moment because I was running late.

I was also moved with emotion.

Because I completely understood.

 

Later, though, I sent my dad a text:

 

“The sermon last Sunday was on being God’s beloved children. It’s very, very different theology than Southern Baptist theology, and it’s taken me years and years of therapy and hard work to reprogram my brain to accept that I am God’s beloved child over I am a sinner. We may be sinners, but if we believe that we ARE sin at our core, then we believe that we are bad. But if we believe that we are God’s beloved, then we believe that we are loved, regardless of sin. I’m glad that Nouwen made you think.”

 

Friends: However old you are, 18, 46, 64, 81, and anywhere in between, know this:

In the beginning, God created humankind and called humankind good.

You are good. Even though you sometimes do bad things.

You are beloved. Even though your nature holds capacity for sin.

Christ’s forgiveness is but a heart’s cry away.

The Spirit’s grace is never-ending.

God’s love extends to all.

And that all includes all of who you are.

 

Oh God: Grant us the courage to listen to the voice calling us your beloved sons and daughters, and help us find the determination to live our lives according to this truth. Amen.

Goodness Abounds (Part Two)

I had just gone upstairs to take my afternoon nap when I heard the doorbell ring. When I opened the door, there was a man whom I didn’t know waiting on the sidewalk.

 

Long story short, the man was Andrew the Roofer who had come to collect his check. As he came into the house, he noticed the piano to the right.

 

As he waited for my mom to write the check, we chatted about music. He explained that he didn’t appreciate having to take piano lessons as a kid, but he now appreciates knowing music theory and being able to play the piano.

 

He said, “If Dan weren’t asleep, I’d play a little song for you.” I said, “Oh, it won’t matter. He can’t hear the piano all the way back in his room.”

 

And so, after Andrew the Roofer got his check for the hard, physical labor of roofing, he, mom, and I went to the music room where he sat down and began to delicately play the keys.

 

He played for at least ten minutes, becoming more and more comfortable the longer he played,

clearly enjoying himself and the momentary escape that the music gave him.

 

Having no idea that my mom is practically a professional pianist, he asked her to play a little for him. She, of course, blew him away. He sang along to the melodies he recognized and when she finished playing, he just said, “Wow. You didn’t miss a beat,” and then requested Greensleeves 😊.

 

Mom once had a busy UPS worker stop for a moment on the porch to listen to her play, but she’d never had a roofer come into the house to sit at her piano and play for himself!

 

As Andrew the Roofer was leaving, he said, “This has inspired me to get out my keyboard and play more often.” I smiled. And after he left, mom and I looked at each other and said, “That was weird. And neat.”

 

And it was.

The power of music had spoken.

And I got to bear witness.

 

…

 

A few months ago, Barb The Art Teacher gave me some tins that she’d collected from her Aunt Pat. On Thursday night, as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I thought to myself, “You should make B something with her Aunt Pat’s tins.” B texted me the next morning to tell me that her Aunt Pat had died the night before. Coincidence? Maybe. But I can’t help but think not.

 

And so I went into the studio and began to peruse Aunt Pat’s tins. I deconstructed some things and pondered what I could make, but nothing spoke to me until suddenly it did. Early in our careers, B and I sat outside of our classrooms on the picnic tables behind the school and had a pomegranate seed spitting competition. A few years later, it became a joke with B and me that “Art is not art unless you put a bird on it.” One of Aunt Pat’s tins had a pomegranate on it. Another had a bird.

 

When I put them together, it was as if it was meant to be.

The power of art had spoken.

And I got to bear witness.

 

…

 

As we enter 2024, may we bear witness to

Music and

Art and

Goodness and

Light.

 

God IS goodness.

And goodness abounds.

 

Amen.

 

Goodness Abounds

 

I went to get a pedicure last week.

Barb The Art Teacher spontaneously asked if I could go,

And I could,

So I went.

We waited a little while,

Chatting and watching some kids play.

Then we went to our massage chairs and began the pedicure.

The guy working on my toes simply said,

“One pedicure,” and started his work.

He was very thorough,

Spending a lot of time on some rogue in-grown toenails,

Talking with us occasionally,

Especially when we mentioned we were teachers.

When his wife sat down to work with Barb,

She said, “What pedicure would you like?”

Barb looked at me and asked what I was getting.

I looked at the nail technician and he looked at my feet and said,

“Your feet are in good shape. You don’t need anything but the basic pedicure.

I mean, if you want all the extra stuff, then we can do it.

But you don’t need it.

And I don’t like to assume that people want it before taking a look at their feet.”

“Wow,” I thought.

“He didn’t try to up-sell me.

He totally could have made more money on my feet.

But he didn’t.

I’m super impressed.”

 

In a society where so many people make their money on the up-sell,

It was refreshing to experience someone who put his customer first,

Simply stated what I needed,

And complimented my feet in the process.

 

As we end 2023 and begin to shift our focus to 2024,

May we hold to good moments like this,

Believe that good people still exist,

And determine to be goodness ourselves

In a world that tries to suck goodness from our being.

 

God is good.

And goodness abounds.

Oftentimes in places where we least expect it.

 

Amen.