Everyday Parent

I was taken with a newspaper article today about a mom who put her two daughters out on the curb and left them because they were fighting in the car as she made her way through traffic. She is being "talked about" like an abuser is talked about.
I remember growing up and hearing my mom and dad say, "If you two don't stop bickering, the car is going to be stopped and you can both walk home." In my imaginative memory, sometimes they did this to my sister and me. I'm not certain this memory is accurate. That's the way memory is sometimes.
When I drove my own children to school, we instituted a rule about talking in the car, particularly negative talking. There were many times when the threat of being put out of the car was uttered. There were other threats too, equally potentially abusive in today's world.
Isaih 3:12a mentions children as oppressors which of course they ARE!!! But we all take turns being oppressors, really, because children have no real voice, no matter how spoiled they are. But in Proverbs 22:6 we are instructed to raise children the way we want them to grow.
Making your way back home at 10 and 12 after screaming in the car is no big deal. Screaming in the car is not an option for people. The cars are lethal weapons after all, and we don't take this lightly, nor should we. There are other areas where some pretty strong actions could be taken to help a child grow straight and strong amidst a crooked, difficult world.
So my nominee for unsung hero/ine today is the Everyday Parent. The one on display every single minute and who is judged by the public at large. This public is certain that there is a better way than the way the viewed parent is handling a situation with children. To that mom who took an unpopular but firm choice, I raise a cup of tea, and I hope her children soon value their heroine as much as she merits, and then a bit extra just for love.

Share the Peace

You will notice that I changed the title to Eskay's Christian Notes. Yesterday I googled eskay's notes and found some "distractions" in other types of eskay's notes, so I decided to distinguish mine from the hip-hop artist's blog.
That being said, I hope to still rely on the theme of unsung hero/ines where we often find Christ when we weren't even looking. I discovered another key to finding Christ in others in the scripture reading today. After Christ's resurrection, His greeting began with "Peace to you" (Luke 24:36b) (John 20:26b) .
It is in those very words, Peace To You, that you always find Him.
Peace has nothing really to do with politics, or war, or neighborhoods even. The peace that Christ gives, and sends through unsung hero/ines, is the feeling of acceptance, contentment, and rightness with the world. That's why an endodontist, a child, a dog, a priest, a prisoner or even an enemy can bring the message of Christ's peace to us. Sometimes peace will come from a nonbeliever, or a Muslim, or a person you thought of as an enemy. That peace that we yearn for doesn't have "human" boundaries. It isn't a math formula, set up in a neat and concise way, and doesn't answer to laws of any sort, natural, religious, or manmade. Christ's peace is beyond the ideal point were parallel lines converge. But it is only His peace that is real. Find some of that peace to day and share it with others.

Jonah

Some of God's messages are hard. The Book of Jonah tells of an unsung hero (Jonah) sent to a gentile tribe, the Assyrians, to warn them and make them aware of God's great mercy available to them if they repent their sinful ways. God's forgiving ways in this story predate Christ by 700 years. God has always asked for us to love and obey. God takes care of the rest (food, shelter, the beauty of our earth).
Much of The Book (our Bible) is like this. Over and over we are shown in story after story that God loves human beings. All humans. All the time. No matter what.
Yet we get angry with God (like Jonah did) and confused and saddened by how we see the world going. Just like Jonah who was so angry that the Nineveh citizens were spared. We get angry too and question why??? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are some people asked to bear so much? And why do others get forgiven worse acts then we can even think about?
Sometimes I tell myself to remember God's words to Job in chapters 38 and 39--when God asked Job who questioned God's ways where were you when I made the earth? And Job answered in 40:4, Behold, I am vile. We are vile, evil, and yet we live (change the letters and have all three!) And tomorrow I will forget the lesson of Jonah and Job as soon as some unfair thing happens. And it will. I will then think it through, after a time, and realize that I'm the lucky one that Christ died for--so even my anger and rage are forgiven. Though I am vile and evil I live, because Christ died for me.
But it's not always easy--except of course for all those things that God does provide gratis--beautiful skies, oceans, beaches, mountains, salvation.......

Palm Sunday

Daily I go to an Irish Jesuit online reading site called Sacred Space. Because I start my day at my laptop, after coffee and exercise, starting with scripture and a though-filled message sets me up just right. Today, Palm Sunday, the reading included the anointing of Jesus feet, Mark 14:2-9. Later this morning I'll go to Church and read the part of a disciple as we follow Palm Sunday traditions. The unsung hero/ine today must be the woman of that passage. She is my inspiration always. While Christ is the backbone of the revealed truth, i.e. the Bible, this woman is surely one of the ribs. Following this woman is one of the things that I see Christians do best. We are, none of us, capable of being Christ's twin. But all of us can adore Christ, humble ourselves and do what we can. We can indeed be the woman's twin. Recognizing Christ. Paying due attention. Thanking God for the gift of himself to us.