Faith Comes Before the Miracle

Finding out Criss Fournier has ALS put it all in perspective. I want to use this column right now to broadcast the opportunity to contribute to her care costs at her GoFundMe site. If you can, please donate. They are halfway there. Mondi is carrying all this for her Mom.

We all know about bad things happening to good people. Evil is evil. And the good people they happen to inspire us and urge us on and encourage us with their indomitable spirit and courage and bright light of life.

Where I found my faith challenged was watching bad things happen to badly behaving people. I have in my life a continuous stream of people behaving badly who leave their crap all over my life. And here’s the thing that bothers me. Something bad always happens to them. They have strokes, they get sudden cancer that takes them out in a matter of months, their marriages end, they lose their jobs because they committed illegal acts, their children commit suicide. One guy practically ruined my witness for the goodness of God and then his wife was caught embezzling and became a convicted felon. I mean bad stuff.

What do you do when bad things happen to people we might define as ‘enemies’, people who have lied about us or stolen from us or betrayed us?

Good Lenten question.

We’re told to pray for our enemies and ask blessing upon them. Yea, right. Except, Yea, really. It’s the only way.
Someone said unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting it to hurt the other person.

Well let me tell you what I learned.  Good really is more powerful in this world than bad. The problem is that good people aren’t loud enough and proud enough. Let goodness resound. Keep making good bright and broadcast it to the world.

Time and again I have had to remind myself that old adage about pigs and mud. Don’t fight with a pig because it just makes the pig mad and gets mud all over you.

Having faith when you are in difficult times means letting things work themselves out a bit before you panic.  That’s where focusing on the good comes in. Busy yourself with that which adds to the world and let the knot loosen itself.
Last night, when I was in the middle of a giant pity party, before I found out about Criss, it seemed like only the most extreme measures were going to be effective in dealing with a particular situation.

This morning, I ran into a co worker to whom I said, “Well, I’m supposed to have all this faith...” and they responded “Faith comes before the miracle”.

Last column I asked you how much are you willing to surrender. Well? There is this positive flow of life running through our days.

If you are grabbing for the positive, the good, the nurturing, that which brings life, it leaves room in your heart and an inclination to pray for your enemies.

Today, I’m going out to the printer to see about layout questions he has for my book  “Kneeling at the Cross etc, etc....”which is coming out, no foolin’, Wednesday April 1st 2015. ( release reading at the Vashon Bookshop at 5PM that evening, come one come all).

Focusing on the task at hand of getting the word out, putting all the digital stuff in order, keeps my heart centered on the good.

So who’s hurt you? A boss that doesn’t care about your exasperation over a contentious co worker? Someone who’s borne false witness? A doctor that misdiagnosed you? Children who exploit your generosity? Neighbors who are selfish and self serving. Somebody in your life who suffers from addiction and or mental illness? Government officials who don’t do their job properly and end up making a mess you have to straighten out?

I keep forgetting I’m a woman all the time and that means I come on way too strong for a good half of the world. With three brothers, a father who raised me to be equal to them, and an undergraduate degree from a woman’s college it doesn’t occur to me most of the time that the world sees a woman before they hear my words. Then too, I also stand up for myself. It’s really kind of second nature now. A woman can do that you know. It’s OK. It’s legal. It’s moral.

The power of focusing on the good while the knot of whatever evil loosens itself to the point where it can be untangled is the best way to go.

Love,
Deborah