FINDING THE GOOD NEWS IN THE BAD

 In this life we all receive our share of bad news, some more than others and some more than it seems one deserves. No matter how bad the bad news and no matter how often it comes our way we have to deal with it. As much as we want or even try to avoid it, there it is staring us in the face.

The point is not to try to deny the bad news nor is it to downplay how bad the bad really is. Doing so only makes matters worse and not better. Yet, the truth is we often try. The further truth us that sometimes the bad news isn’t as bad as we think it is. We are all prone to making the proverbial molehill into a mountain. Nevertheless, the molehill is still a problem we have to address.

What we need to do is find the good news in the bad news. Full disclosure: I am an ardent Joe Biden supporter and totally opposed to Donald Trump. It is not so much about politics as it is about the person. I could go on. My point is that despite the polls saying Biden was going to win in a landslide, I always had my doubts: the memory of 2016 never went away. What I was doing in case my worries proved correct was to try to find some good news in the bad news should it come. It did not for me, but for over 74 million others it did. Now they must try to find some good news in what they have considered bad news, and for some of them, very bad news. I know the feeling. Been there.

No matter who we are we must try to find the good news in what we consider really bad news. At first that is extremely difficult because we can be overwhelmed by the bad news. For me, had the election turned the other way, I would have a very difficult time trying to find the good news. It would not be easy, not in the least, but I would have to try. I would have no choice.

The good news in any bad situation is that we never go through it alone, Family and friends are there to walk with us and who try to help us fine that glimmer, and sometimes it is only a glimmer, of good news that is there somewhere. But it is there as difficult as it sometimes is to see. We simply have to open our eyes to see it as blurred as that vision may be.

At the same time, when our good news may be another’s bad news, what we have to do is be the person who helps find the good news for him. In doing so we must resist the temptation to downplay how he feels, to try to make light of what is going on inside of him. He is hurting and may even be angry. Who isn’t when confronted with bad news, whatever that bad news is?

Bad news is bad news and it is personal, meaning a real person is experiencing it, a person we are called to love and try to understand, support as best we can. When the bad news is ours, we hope the other will do the same for us. We are in this life together.

SEEING BEYOND WHAT WE SEE

Sometimes, maybe more often than not, we really do not see what we think we see. We see on the surface and no more, and then we make judgments about what we are seeing: he/she/it is beautiful, ugly, interesting, boring – the list is long and even endless. Most of the time, I dare say, we don’t even go so far as to pass any judgment. We move on in the blinking of our eyes.

Sometimes, too, we see only what we want to see, especially when the object of our attention is a person. If we like that person, we tend to see good. If we have an adverse feeling, for what ever reason we have such, we often see something less than good, even evil. We want to see good in those we love and care about and see not-so-good or even not-good in those we don’t. Human nature, perhaps, but not justifiable or acceptable for us as Christians.

Seeing beyond what we see takes effort. It often takes hard work and it takes time. It takes being open and not automatically being judgmental, either for good or for bad. One bad observation about another does not make that person bad. What we saw may only have been a bad moment or part of a bad day. We can relate. We’ve all had them. On our part we certainly do not want to be judged by another because of one bad and foolish word or action. One bad sermon does not make one a bad preacher nor does one good one make one an orator. We are judged by our body of work not by one act.

We know that. That is why it is so important to try to see beyond what we se. There is depth to everyone and everything, sometimes profound depth. We’d like to think sometimes that what we see is what we get, that there is no depth to it – to the act or to the person. But there us. Even a passing nod, a peck on the cheek, a quick handshake of greeting all have more to them that meets the eye, perhaps not a whole lot more, but more. We know that also to be true when we are nodding our head to another, giving that peck on the cheek or extending out hand in welcome.

None of this is very profound. But during these times of social distancing I am reminded how much I miss giving and receiving that peck on the cheek from a friend, that warm handshake or big bear hug, all saying more than words can say. And it is in these times we are given the opportunity to take the time to reflect on the world about us: the beauty and depth and meaning of God’s glorious creation; the importance of family and friends; the ways we can begin to mend the divisions that have been so profound and sad and still linger. The list is long.

We have been called to be a lamp of love and forgiveness to the world by the way we live our lives. To do so we have to keep our eyes open to see beyond what we think we are seeing and see what God sees and then do what we can to help others see beyond what they think they are seeing. That may not be easy for us or for them. But we must.

MISJUDGING THE DAY

At the end of the day as I am falling off to sleep, I often reflect upon the day that is almost done. I think about the things I have done, what I have accomplished, if anything. In these days of covid, I have to admit that my list of good deeds done is often very, very short. When you can’t go anywhere, or most anywhere, for fear on contracting the virus, there is not much one can do that merits praise or good feeling of any kind.

That said, it is so much easier to look for the self-pats-on-the-back that I can give than reflect on the missed opportunities there were to determine if what I have done has enabled others to, if you will, go and do likewise. As a wise person one once observed, we should not judge each day by the harvest we reap but by the seeds that we plant. If you are like me, it is so very easy to admire the harvest, if there was any, than rue the time we wasted in not taking time to plant seeds.

Of course, the truth is that we plant seeds all the time whether we realize it or not, whether conscious of that fact or not. Everything we say or do is a seed that is planted in another or others. Those seeds can be very good or very bad. When we have done something that helps another or others, we have planted a seed in them. What they do with that seed – emulate it or ignore it – is up to them. But we have planed a seed.

The same is true when others plant seeds in us by the examples they set – good or bad. What we do with those seeds is up to us. Over the years I have become a better person because the good seeds planted in me by others I allowed to grow and take hold in me. On the other hand, there have been times, all too many I must honestly admit, that I have allowed a bad see to take hold in order to justify something I did that I really knew was wrong and should not have done.

Whenever I reflect back my day or days, week or weeks, I have to wonder about all those missed opportunities there were to plant seeds, good seeds, in others by things that I have done and by things I have left undone, words and actions. I cannot go back and do a make-over. I can only rue my failings and determine to be more aware of those opportunities to plant good seeds when they come my way.

The danger, certainly, when I have indeed planted some good seeds, or think I have, is to take pride in what I have done rather than be thankful that God has given me the grace and strength to do what I should do and should be doing all the time. It is truly no great praise-worthy deed to do what I should be doing. It is simply fulfilling my responsibility as a Christian.

At the end of the day, if we can reflect back on what examples we have given to the people we have encountered by the way we have lived and know we have done the best we could, we can rest in peace. That’s all we can ask of ourselves and all God asks of us.

LIMPING ALONG TOGETHER

William Sloane Coffin once astutely observed: “It is often said that the church is a crutch. Of course it’s a crutch. What makes you think you don’t limp?” We’re all a bunch of cripples, are we not, we who are members of the church? We’re not whole in any way, shape or form. We are crippled by our pasts, each of us and all of us together. To think that the church is made up of whole and sound people is to miss what the church is all about. It is a hospital for the crippled, those made weak by their sins. The healthy need not apply.

To realize our ill health, to admit that we are not whole, to recognize our need for help – all that is the first step in getting healthier: healthier. There will never be a time when we are completely whole, in total health; not in this life anyway. While we are trying to get better, become less crippled, we often find ourselves taking two steps forward for every step backward, and sometimes it is just the opposite. We are all cripples. What is worse, most of our pain is also self-inflicted. Every time we think we have made some progress towards better spiritual health, we do something sinful and stupid that drags us back a peg or two.

We limp along day by day by day hoping we will get just a little better, limp a little less and not do anything to make the limp even worse. Some days we succeed and some days we fail and often fail miserably. That is the first truth about life in this life. The second truth we need to acknowledge is that we cannot get better all by ourselves even as we sometimes try to do so. We all are in need of help, no exceptions. The one place we know we can find that help is with and among our fellow cripples, in that community of the sick we call our church.

We all need a crutch to lean on at times. The church is indeed our crutch. The church as that community of cripples is that place where we help one another become stronger and healthier and better. We support one another in our individual journeys in faith because we know that is the only way we can make the trip: together. Trying to go it alone only insures our failure. The trek is too long, too difficult and we are too crippled to make it all by ourselves.

That is not a sign of failure. It is only an admission of the truth. Yes, it is an admission of our weakness. But if we refuse to confess that weakness, even profess it, we are only making our life worse. It is only the fool and the too proud who will not use the crutch. It is the wise and the humble who reach out and grab the crippled hand of the other so that together they can limp along together, slowly but surely, on the journey in faith.

We are all wounded. Our wounds are inflicted by the sins of others and are self-inflicted because of our own. They may not be evident. But they are there and they are very real and they make cripples of all of us. That is why we gather as a community of faith, crippled, limping along, supporting one another, being a crutch one to another, loving one another to healthier and more whole spiritual lives. Yes, it is difficult these days because of the virus, but these days will pass and we can extend the hand of help once again.