Not perfect, but lovely!

in my reflections today i realized that it is our values, our world views and our convictions that either draw us towards each other or propell us a way from each other. i sometimes wonder why relationships with different friends from high school or college do not really exist any more. partly i realize that it is due to space and where we are geographically situated, but even living near older friends does not necessarily mean that we share a relationship. and that is partially really sad, but i think also a natural, healthy progression of life. for those of you who know me and still keep in contact with me-- you know i'm generally a pretty passionate person (sometimes that can be overwhelming for those around me, as i tend to have strong opinions and often run off on tangents.) but none- the- less, i am passionate and strong in my ideas of justice, compassion, faith and advocacy (to name a few). i often preach that we need to be people who live out those values in our lives and i sometimes forget the diversity in which those values can be lived out. i generally think that means that people must fight for justice and compassion in similar ways that i do. which in a nut shell means: advocate for basic rights for people, fight for justice for the oppressed, offer compassion, kindness and a listening ear to the hurting, etc. and most often for me that falls in the following categories: homelessness, poverty, HIV/AIDS, basic human rights for those in areas of war, etc. and i am reminded today that those core values of social justice and compassion should not just be lived out in the above categories, but in all aspects of life. just because i have a passion for the homeless does not mean that the only area to live out justice & compassion is with the homeless, etc. but it can be lived out in the very context and life that you live in. today i went to the mom's group, a fellowship for moms at quest church, and someone shared their need to fight for the basic civil rights of their children. another mother talked about the need to fight and educate public schools on community and the need for each person to acknowledge each other in our diversities. how will our children learn if it is not from our example? imagine going to a school picnic or gathering and you not being acknowledged because your children are new to the school? how can our children learn to embrace one another if we don't acknowledge each other and embrace one another in their presence? do we perpetuate this idea of 'us' and 'them' which can be broken down into any category whether by race, class, religion, etc.? and taking these concerns and feedback to the principles and teachers (like these mothers are doing) is living out the values of justice, compassion and the gospel to love one another more than ourselves. even in the christian community we see these divides. divides based on tradition, socio economic status, physical ableness, race, etc. yet, christ keeps calling us to more and that's what it means to live out our faiths and do the hard work of building life together. we build in the stickiness, the difficulties, the misunderstandings, the hurts because we trust that in all of those things god is restoring us to each other and to himself. i have been fortunate to find a community, a family that is certainly not perfect, but is genuinly lovely because they are striving to reflect that face of christ to each other by not just sharing the gospel through words, but through the harder process of 'doing' life with dignity and the thin reality that there is hope in our god. i pray that god will continue to stretch us, challenge us, break us and turn his will on us that we would be deepened in how we see him, how we see each other and how we see our world.

praise be to god!