greatness

When I was in University, taking the first of a few degrees (don’t ask, I’m still begging forgiveness from my wife), I found out quite quickly that if I wanted to get on in this whole realm I would have to align myself with some pretty influential people. I began to realise that in academia it matters just as much who you know as what you know.

A little cliché that works most places, I know, but I was amazed at how true it was.

I began to work with one of my professors, doing grading and other things for him. Then I worked a summer for him and helped with analysis of a pretty major research project. As a result I got my name put on the final project which was submitted to the Canadian International Development Agency. We also spun off a paper which was presented (by yours truly) at the Canadian Agricultural Economists Annual Meeting. I was invited to the banquet, which was much more formal than I had planned. I sat at the table with my prof, who was a Fellow of the association, and one of his friends who was made a Fellow that evening.

I felt like I was being welcomed into the upper echelons of power within the Canadian Agricultural Economics realm. All right, so it is not that big of a step up, but it is amazing how vivid that evening sticks out for me. I was actually approached by a couple of representatives from different schools that night asking me if I were going to attend their graduate program.

It felt great.

I felt great.

I felt as though I had some value, some worth. I began to think that there was something important that I had to contribute to what was going on around me.

I have met some people who still talk about when they meant to that meeting with the Premier way back in ‘72. Or when they were present when the Prime Minister found out he had won the election. Or …

See, I think we all associate how great we are by who welcomes us. If we are welcomed to the table of a Fellow, we feel important. If we are welcomed to a meeting with the Premier, we feel special. If we are part of the privileged few to see the first reaction of a person to becoming Prime Minister, we feel great.

For Jesus, however, greatness is not about who welcomes you, but who you welcome.

It is not about what tables you sit at, but who sits at your table. It is not about building up your own reputation so that others think you are important, it is about taking the very thing that God has given you, yourself, and giving it to others freely and without expectation.

This is one of the reasons he says that when we welcome a little child we welcome him. A child in that society is someone who is considered an outsider, someone who has no real say in what goes on in society, someone who is tolerated at best, but most often ignored, someone like the homeless man sleeping in that stairwell downtown, or that girl who sleeps in the park because of her internal torment, or the homosexual who is ostracised from her community because they cannot see past the label to the person underneath.

Can we be this kind of great?

shaped by family

And then there were three (228 of 365) EXPLORED! on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

There are times when we forget the power of a family. We forget what it is like to be shaped and moulded by a relationship of giving and forgiving. We forget the power we have in our hands, all of our hands.

It takes all of these hands to make a family.

It takes all of us to make a community, a church.

The church is not the building, it is about the people. It is not about trying to cram as many bodies as we can into a certain space for an hour once a week. The church is a familial relationship. We may not like our family, we may even hate them sometimes, but they are still our family.

We are shaped by every member of that family.

The biggest change in my life happened when we had our first child. Suddenly, there were three of us. Suddenly we had a little life that we had to nurture and love. Suddenly, we were being shaped by this little thing that had no voice.

Shaped in ways we could never imagine.

And now we are four, and I continue to be shaped. My rough edges are slowly being worn smooth by the constant rubbing of three other members of the family. I am constantly being taught patience, persistence, trust, and how to forgive.

Imagine what it would be like if we allowed ourselves to be changed by our church family like we are shaped by our biological family. Imagine what it would be like if instead of nursing that chip on our shoulder, we allowed it to be work away by constant contact with those around us.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Love Your Enemies

more about “Love Your Enemies“, posted with vodpod

There are certain discussions which we do not do well as a faith community, loving the other is probably the worst. Soul Pancake is having a great discussion on this topic, using the above video.

Nothing is harder than forgiving.

virtues unknown

Image via Wikipedia

My parents live at the top of a coulee in Southern Alberta that leads down to the Old Man River. The coulees leading into this river bottom got there start at the end of the last ice age when a lone glacier rolled down the prairies cutting a channel in the rich black soil. Over the years this channel was changed into a valley with coulees lining its edges.

At the bottom of my parent’s coulee is a large patch of thistles.

There are few weeds which frustrate a farmer more than thistles. Some say that thistles can regrow if even a quarter inch of root is left in the ground, and that thistle seeds can remain in the soil for decades before a timely rain makes them spring from the earth.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This patch of thistle, though, is extremely beautiful. The green spiny stems which bear purple flowers on their heads. The vibrant colours which give way to a gorgeous thin white down bearing seeds.

Thistle seeds; the beloved food of finches.

Sitting out in my parents front lawn, looking out over that patch of thistles I came to appreciate them for more than just their beauty. Without the thistles and their seeds there would be no beautiful flashes of yellow which dart around the yard.

Too often we are blind to the value of things because we refuse to really look at them.

Too often we are blind to the value of people because we refuse to truly look at them.

Every time we vilanise another people group; someone who is different than us, someone who does not live like we do, someone who does not keep their house as clean, someone who comes from a different cultural background, someone who thinks about God differently than we do.

Every time we do this we refuse to really look at them.

Who is the “other”? A person whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

Take time today, this weekend, to really look at others. To try and discover the virtues that God has planted in all people.

After all, we are all made in his image.

desperate for authentic connection

In a world where I am surrounded by strangers I long for meaningful connections. I long to be more than my job to those I meet.

I long to be myself but am always afraid that I will not be accepted.