I know not what lies ahead. I sit here this evening and write, not knowing if the pager on my hip might go off and if it does what it will signify. I know not if I will get a single hour of sleep this eve. Perhaps the one thing I do know is that after my 16 hour shift I will be tired, I will be worn, and I will be reflecting on all that transpired. No, there is another thing…
Like so many things one can extrapolate from this experience and make it into a lens to see other things through, such as life… I wonder what would happen if we were all “on-call” waiting, ready to respond. Perhaps then we would be a bit closer to being that which we are called to be…. Called to be…. called to be…. hmm we have all ready been called. we have been called by the great caller, the One who creates, who loves, who cries. So let’s look at the on-call, as I experience it. I respond to pages, I respond to other requests, referrals.. That response is needed in life yes, but we need to realize no waiting, we need to be acting. The call has come and it is not to one thing, it is to the world. We are called to go and be, to love, to care, to seek healing, reconciliation, help bring about restoration of all of creation… Yes ALL of creation not just part of it, all of it. So let us step forward, realize as a whole our pagers are going off, over and over, the printers are shooting out pages of referrals, the phone is ringing off the hook, the intercom blaring with messages, and we have been ignoring it all and we need to stop. we need to respond, we need to engage. Not one, not two, all of us. We need to be proactive as well, sense seeking that which needs our gifts talents, love, care and act before crisis hits, or if crisis has hit, act before the media says “Wow look at this” this, as they may never get around to that.
Let us pause, and look around, see a world of complexity, of inequality and seek to find pathways to bring healing between all, pathways to ensure all have that which is needed, and all know they are loved with an everlasting love, and know the wonders and the joys of peace, hope, joy, community, reconciliation…
Peace
— Lyle II