Don’t stare too long at the ugly.

Often on my morning walk, I pass a little boy on his way to the bus stop. Mostly our conversations center around whether or not the bus has gone by yet as he casually makes his way up the hill. But sometimes, he’ll tell me about something of interest that I should be on the lookout for as I continue down the street. He’s explained which house is his and how I can recognize it (it’s the one with his dad’s car). He’s told me about the bird that was singing in the tallest tree next to his house and if I stopped to listen, I might hear it and figure what kind of bird it is.

Today was one of those mornings where he had information to share with me. “Excuse me”, (he always begins our encounters this way), “did you know there is a dead possum in front of my house?” I replied that I did not.  “It’s head is smashed and bloody,” he shared. “He must have been hit by a car”, I said. “How sad!” “Yeah, it is”, he replied and picked up his pace because by this time we could hear the bus at the bottom of the hill. 

Days are like that. Some days you get to see the wonderful and beautiful. Other days you see the ugly and sad. But mostly, life is a little bit of both all mixed together. My hope is to not stare too long at the ugly. 

No matter what is happening in my life or the lives of those I love or to the far reaches of the world, I believe that in the end everything will be okay. This is my faith; that there is a God who loves us and is with us forever.

I don’t pretend to ignore or not fully feel what is happening in my reality. Having faith doesn’t mean I walk through each day without fear or concern because my eyes are only focused on the “afterlife”. No, I believe we are to feel deeply all that is going on around us. The pain and the heartache are real. Children die. People are wracked by horrible disease. Greedy, power-hungry men attack innocent people. All that is true. All that is real. All that is unimaginably painful. And I think we are to feel it all deeply; the stuff that happens to us and the stuff that happens to others. It’s the depths of those feelings that move us to care. To be moved toward compassion and action. Even though we can’t fix it all.

But under all that feeling and movement and heartache and knowledge that it won’t always work out in this world, there is the hope that there is more. I know this deep in my soul and down in my bones. And that provides the strength to face the here and now.

As I write this, I understand that I have no idea what someone else is going through. I never want my words to sound trite or easy. So each day, God helping me, I try to live out my faith and love others. And hope that it helps. 

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1-2 The Message