A Barnabas for our times...

"Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right." (2 Thessalonians 3:13)

Byzigenous Buddhapalian has a remarkable post (link below - you should read it whole) where he describes the extremities to which the feelings of despair I know I sometimes feel, especially after watching the TV news, or worse, catching up with the BBC News website, can bring us. He describes them as the "world is going to hell in a handbasket" blues. He goes on, though, with this passage of astonishing hope. This is the very definition of encouragement:

We can carry on. We can bear witness to what we know. We can speak the truth. We can act justly, kindly, compassionately. We can do what little we know how in order to ease a neighbor's pain or anxiety. And when we can do no more, we can just be with them, caring. We can look at one another in love instead of frustration or disgust. We can look deeply to behold the divine presence within them. And in ourselves. We can manage that little gesture. We can encourage. We can embolden. We can empower. We can change a little here, a little there. We can join with others of like mind. We can be patient. We can be pushy. We can seek to know when to do which. We can march, and write, and call, and insist. We can sit still, meditate, and seek wisdom. We can disseminate truth in world of lies and we can encourage healing, liberating, empowering laughter. We can choose to be ourselves and not some phony image that others wish us to assume. We can pray. We can toil. We can approach each day with open hands and hearts, with gratitude, with humility.

The minutest changes, accumulating, make for immense differences, just as many droplets of water become rushing floods...

I have no idea what the future holds... [but] I... weep with tender joy for the beauties of creation, for acts of courage and compassion, for love, and for the goodness of God. I see people banding together to do good. I witness random acts of kindness and very purposeful ones as well. I have not given up on the world or humanity.

It is far better to be tenderhearted than to have one's heart petrify. In my fiction, it is the tears of the people that water a waste land and heal it. Perhaps my efforts are part of the River of Life and my words are part of the world's healing. I trust they are.

Byzigenous Buddhapalian: 2 Thessalonians 3:13

Did you ever wonder what blogging is really for, why we even bother? Now you know.