5 Minute Reflection #14.04: Messages To A Time We Will Not See

This post is a little different than most of mine. It's not like an essay with a beginning, middle and end. Instead it is a collection of thoughts and images about children. In some cases the ideas are familiar. In some cases, the contrast between one image and another is jarring. Most who read this are in a position to make a difference in the life of at least one child. Draw your own conclusions about what that means.

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"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." John W. Whitehead

"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you." - Khalil Gibran

Children are the future of civilization, or humanity, or whatever you want to call it. Without a future, civilization is without purpose. 

"It is more than existence and reproduction - it is about living - there is a joy to existence and children enrich the experience - we are all social beings and gather and interact well beyond the exigencies of existence - there is a nurturing side to us that relishes sharing our inner selves." - D. R. Guzmán

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Mumbai (The Guardian)

"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them." - Bono

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"A person's a person, no matter how small." - Dr. Seuss

"How is it that something so simple as a baby's smile can just make my heart want to burst?" - Tamara Ahmed

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More than a million Syrian children are refugees.
Photograph: Nabil Mounzer/EPA via The Guardian

"The Syrian children refugee crisis is an embarrassment to humanity."- Harry Tucker

"One father in Zaatari (Lebanon) refugee camp was so worried about the safety of his daughters he made them stay in their tent for the entire month they lived in the camp. Noor, 13, and her sister passed the time playing with rocks." - The Guardian

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Photo courtesy Tamara Ahmed

What do we see when we look at a sleeping baby? A totally dependent, totally trusting human being, a reflection of the position of every one of us enjoys before God when we acknowledge Him.

"People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” (Luke 18:15-17 The Message)

The difference that you make in the life of a child today is the message that you send to the future.

5 Minute Reflection #14.01: A Perfect Day For A Funeral

Every once in a while the distinctions blur between symbols and the things they represent. Metaphors materialize and ordinary events take on transcendent meaning. I attended a funeral this morning. It was a perfect day for it - heavy snow showers, a blustery wind and bitter cold. Colorless buildings, roads, cars, and pedestrians were dimly seen through the falling snow under a canvas painted in shades of white and gray stretched from horizon to horizon. It was the kind of day that makes mourning easy. It was also Ash Wednesday, for Christians an observance and reminder of human mortality - ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;for dust you are and to dust you will return. (Genesis 3:19 NIV)

Yet, we believe that this is not the end of the story. Although we live in the shadow of the winter and death, we look ahead with hope to the of end of winter, to the Resurrection and ultimately to a "new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Having an average day? Unlikely.

It's Saturday.  A list of chores ahead, here and there, then a Project Hood fundraiser at the University of Chicago tonight.

I was wondering how many people actually say something about their real state of mind or current activities when they update their "status" on their social media site of choice.  It seems to be a minority.  It's true for me, that most of my status updates are just things that are on my mind, or that have caught a fleeting slice of my attention for a moment or two. Sometimes, I'll try to say something pithy or motivational.  Here's a hint:  When I do that, it's even odds that I'm trying to motivate myself in some way.

In the the least scientific survey ever, I skimmed my Facebook news feed to see how my friends are doing. Like most days, our lives are filled with ups and downs.  On average, it's an average day.

Here's what some of you had to say.  You might recognize your own update but for your protection, I'm pretty sure that I've omitted any personally identifiable information. Thanks for sharing!

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Feeling very manly today doing some home repairs. I will not tell you what it is because I do not want you to know how minor a big project is around this house.

Graduation, birthday, and Grandwood Park parties today...whew, hope I can take all the fun! But first, 6 miles on the river trail...

Another bad night. No restful sleep. Exhausted and excruciating headache this morning.

Wonderrful day yesterday. Nice hike with the family (including seeing a toad up close), drive along Lake Superior, lunch at The Hut, naps, dinner at the beach (including a thunderstorm) and watching a small spider build a web. Awesome!

Bastille Day! It is also my father's birthday. So many feelings! About revolution, oppression, those who betray the revolution... about my Dad, getting up before dawn to go fishing with him in the Rogue River, Oregon, and his great intelligence and rational discussion, his sexism and paternalistic ways, of his integrity and compassion... So many thoughts and feelings for one small day.

Surgery...bummer.

so... fate has it that our plans of binge drinking at 'la bastille', followed by authentic chinese food and visiting sleazy whore bars in the red light area have to be postponed. i myself have headache, clogged sinuses and a slight fever.

Nice, stiff black coffee and the Internet. Pure bliss.

More fantastic news. Joshua's friend Darota has come off the ventilator!

Stiff, sore and unbelievably achy all over this am, but I will go out for another walk. The Walk Boss decrees it must happen...

Morning, nothing quite like a late(ish) lie in, then it will be off to the Zoo with some friends.

Swimming

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On average, it seems like an average day.  But, when it's your life, averages don't matter much.  When you're down, you're down, and you hope somebody will come along and pick you up.  When you're up, you're up.  You're happy.  Be grateful but observant.  If you see somebody who's down, offer what you can, extend a hand, be willing to help them up.

Have a better than average day!