Pity party or thankfulness?

But God doesn’t want us to live in fear August 1, 2024

2 Corinthians 13:11 Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Wow. August already. Does it seem to you too that time is just flying by?

I love the way Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians, “Live in harmony and peace.” Yes! He’s speaking my language! I love harmony and peace (no surprise that I identify as an Enneagram 9).

I’m in Idaho visiting my sister and remembering how she and her husband drove me all over southern Idaho to research Treasure Hunt 1904. This is the view from my window in their home.

Is it possible, though, to obey Paul’s instruction, when there is so much chaos and conflict in the world? When fear might seem a more “rational” response, how can we so center ourselves in the God of love and peace that we live in harmony with God, with ourselves, and with others?

Yesterday while chatting with friends, I recalled Karis’s radical trust in God’s sovereignty, even when she faced incredibly difficult circumstances. On her way to the hospital, if she was well enough to speak, she would say, “I wonder who God has for me in the hospital this time?”

As soon as she was strong enough to get out of bed, she would be out on the unit visiting other patients, encouraging and praying with them. Their nationality, gender, politics, etc. were simply points of interest in loving them better. What she saw was a person going through a hard time, in need of understanding and comfort. A person whom God, who was always with her, could love through her.

It’s not that God was with Karis more than with anyone else—he promises to be with all of us, always. I think her trust and her need for him simply made her more aware of his presence with her.

Karis’s radical belief in God’s sovereignty included a conviction that nothing happened to her by accident. In every situation, she believed, God had a purpose. Her job was to discern that purpose and cooperate with it. This kept her focus on others’ needs rather than on her own suffering and losses. She allowed herself occasionally to indulge in a “pity party,” as she called it. But soon she would laugh, shake it off, say “OK, enough of that,” and start listing the things and people she had to be grateful for. This practice (perhaps it fits under Paul’s word to Timothy, “self-discipline”) made it possible for her to say, “All I see is grace.”

Karis could have let herself be paralyzed by fear. Instead, she used the challenges she faced to help her empathize with others. She didn’t get there automatically. She made choices every single day. And she allowed other people to help her with this intention. She knew her challenges were too big for her alone. She knew the value of transparency and community.

When I grow up, I want to be like Karis.

It occurs to me to mention, in this context of love and harmony, an organization committed to bridging the gap in America between the right and the left, called Braver Angels. At every level of their leadership, they maintain equal numbers of “reds” and “blues” who have learned to respect, listen to, and build friendships with each other. Here’s a quote from their website:

“As we separate into groups that increasingly do not even know, or interact with, people of differing opinions, we lose trust in our institutions, eroding the ability to govern ourselves and lowering the caliber of citizenship. This growing trend coarsens public debate, produces policy gridlock, shrinks our capacity for goodwill, and harms our family and personal relationships. Effective self-government depends precisely on what this type of polarization destroys. We believe the American Experiment can survive and thrive for every American who contributes to the effort. Where we go from here is up to us. This is the driving force that fuels our mission.”

Check it out!

I’m reading Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s story, Do It Anyway. So here’s one of her songs to encourage us today, “Gracefully Broken.”