Turn your face to the sun.

Recently I have been musing on the fact that I am wealthy. It is interesting to think that I have had more opportunity, more education, more material things, more food, more house, more everything than about ... 80, 90% of the world.
We (my hall) went hiking on Sunday and we drove for about half an hour through the country around Harrisonburg. People on the whole here are poor, I thought. Tiny houses like trailors and junk in the yard; stereotypes sprang up in my mind like mushrooms.

We drove past one development of new houses.

New, big houses. And on all sides of the new development were little tiny trailor-houses.

What a clear demarcation of class. What a statement of how we value people. What a cut to my conscience as I keep continually stumbling across the parable of the Rich Young Ruler.

You know what really stung my heart? I have been talking recently of possibly practicing medicine in a rural area. Of serving people like those I drove past in Sarah's car.

Am I able to live in a tiny house, a house the size of a trailor? Am I ok with that? And if I am not, what barriers will that build between me and the people whom I want to serve?

So I've been thinking about equality and suffering and pain...
Let me share with you the chorus of The Cure for Pain by Jon Foreman.

Heaven knows,
Heaven knows
I've tried to find a cure for the pain.
Oh my Lord,
To suffer like you do.
It would be a lie to turn away.

I am mustering up the courage to be a witness to the suffering of the world. I told that to Molly and she sent me this poem:

Beloved,
There are days when nothing seems right. When every shell you pick up on the winding shore is broken. When the silken treasure slips through your fingers too quickly. When comforts are empty. And the world is noise.

On those jagged edged days, when the wind is screaming for a reason only she understands. And you find yourself all alone.

Turn your face to the sun.

There is goodness in the world that even the river of tears cannot erase.

There is love in the world that the numbed armies of fear cannot distroy.

Sometimes that goodness is everywhere apparent. It pours from the heart of every moment. From the light of every smile.

On those soft days, love hides in the eaves to drop like sweet honey on your forehead and sings her lilting lullabies in the arms of the winds.

But on some days, Beloved. On days like today...

We need to look, to see.

So turn your face to the sun.

Even when she is nowhere to be seen.

Go inside yourself. Find a speck, a splinter of beauty to be grateful for. "Yes," the day has worn you. And "Yes" our mistakes have been so many.

But say "Thank you" anyway.

Take account of all that is in your possession.

A mind. A heart. A body.

A life that breathes, even if for just one more day.

Now count the eyes that have smiled
at you on your wild journey,
the hands that have held you tenderly,
the ears that have listened,
the prayers that have been made on your behalf.

And whisper your "Thank you" again.

Count the sky that has watched you grow
with His painted eyes,
The heaving waves that find their echo
in the tides of your breathing,
The little birds that have sung
you their songs,
The stars which have been a lamp
to your path,
and are your
rightful inheritance.

Count unexpected laughter,
Count undeserved grace,
Count Passion and Love making and Dreams yet to be born,
And bow your head and say "Thank you."

Now count the lives who still need your light,

The hungry, the sick, the helpless,
Count the children who will die today
and imagine if with the breath of your body
you could help just
one.

Turn your face to the sun,
And know yourself as a child of the light.

You are the goodness that cannot be extinguished,
The love that burns through the darkest night.

And perhaps,
In turning
You will see what I have seen,

that this day where everything seemed wrong,
was not your curse,

It was your gift,

Your chance...
To find inside yourself a forgotten "Thank you,"

To smile in the face of the grim suppressors,

To stand in the heart of the glowering darkness
and turn your face to the sun.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I find that very comforting. To stand in the heart of the glowering darkness and turn your face to the sun.

I challenge you all to do the same.