ONE moment of reflection

“Give me one pure and holy passion. Give me one magnificent obsession. Give me one glorious ambition for my life, to know and follow hard after You.”
May this song reflect the yearning of my heart. I don’t always feel that passion. I don’t always feel close to God, many times I feel far away. But then there is a moment when I come crying to his feet, where his forgiveness pours out. And I remember that he holds me, HE HOLDS ME. As a mother cuddles a baby close to herself, he wraps his arms tightly around me and never lets go. He teaches me lessons, gets me alone (see Jan 12 and 13 of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers).
Today I chose to make use of the holiday and join the MLK service day that Messiah’s Agape Center organized. The day began with a tour of the city of Harrisburg- a city that I have lived within ½ hour of for my entire life but have never really explored. One fact that I found particularly interesting is that a significant portion of the city’s more affluent residents left after Hurricane Agnes wreaked havoc on the area in 1972. This left a great gap in the economy.
As we stood at the parking lot of the Civil War Museum (I honestly never even knew that this place existed!) and looked out over the city, I was struck with the memory of another time I looked out over a hill. When I stood at the top of the hill in Muyenga, Kampala, I was overwhelmed by the expansiveness of the city and the divide between the rich and the poor. And today I looked over Harrisburg with new eyes. Harrisburg, also, is a place of two extremes. There is a beautiful downtown, but homelessness is a very real problem.
Our session at lunch was directed at the needs of those who are marginalized due to disabilities. It was good to be reminded of the discrimination that they face- may I never be passive and ignore someone because they are different than I am!!!
This afternoon I was able to just hang out with precious kids at the Boys and Girls Club- we played air hockey (or some version thereof) and foosball and then played outside on the jungle gym. I even had to perform such antics as running around the playground 3 times, climbing the net 6 times, and doing 10 jumping jacks in order to get to the top level of the fort. Such amazing kids- I wish I lived among them and could more fully invest my life in theirs. God, teach me to live justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly wherever I am.
While I live here in Naugle 3B, I seek to invest in the lives of those living in community with me- both in proximity and also those people who live farther away but still are a significant part of my community.
Most of the time I just write these sort of things in my journal, but every once in a while I feel like getting my thoughts out in a public place- where people may or may not stumble upon them.