January 20, 2009

The hand right in front of my face.

Sometimes that is about all I can see....my very own hand directly planted in front of my face. My own little world awhirl with parenting issues, attempts to keep grocery budgets low, stabs at being a good wife/friend/daughter, and overall just maintaining my small sense of balance.

There are some times when I manage to peek between my fingers, past that hand planted firmly in front of my face. I see a community, a nation, and sometimes even a world bustling by. I glimpse snippets of other's struggles, of global problems, of catastrophic events. But usually it is only a snippet, because although the images spotted between those cracks in my fingers are alarming at times and desire my attention, I usually revert back to focusing all my attention to that lone hand planted directly in front of my face.

Our country woke up this morning to a monumental day. I know some greeted this day with great emotion, finding it amazing to believe a President has finally been elected who was not an upper-class white male. Others met the day with apprehension, unsure of the hub-bub surrounding our new leader of this nation. There are likely a few who did not even take note of the events of the day, because the placement of a new Commander in Chief meant nothing in their own little world. Most likely we all faced today with our own individual hands planted firmly in front of our face, viewing the history of this inauguration solely through it's direct impact upon "me, me, me".

It appears to be a period in time when our country is a bit bruised, a bit battered, and a bit shaky. Financial woes surround us, environment issues loom over us, and fear of others does not evade us. Yet we continue to scurry about with our own hands planted firmly in front of our faces, seeking only to alleviate our own pains and our own woes.

Over breakfast this morning, I attempted to explain what was taking place in our nation's capital today. My children are only 1 1/2 and 3 years of age, not near the stage of being able to comprehend the significance of an African American president being sworn into office, yet I wanted to slowly remove their own chubby, sticky hands away from their little faces and show them a world beyond the one they know. I wanted them to know that not everybody is treated kindly in this world, that others are looked down upon simply because of their race or economic status or religion. That despite the fact our Lord clearly stated, "I so loved the world that I sent my one and only Son." that many of His people often perceive that verse as reading, "I so loved *your exact race/religion/group* of people that I sent my one and only Son...". I wanted them to know that although discrimination of every kind has been commonplace in the past in our nation and in our world, that hopefully their generation will see beyond such issues as religion, color, gender, organization affiliation and look at the person for who he/she is....the person who God sent his Son to save just as He did for every other member of the human race. I wanted them to know that although we live in middle-class suburbia America, we must understand that the majority of the world does not function in such a manner.

It would do our communities, our nation, and our world a bit of good if we all peeled that hand away from our face and took a good look around.