Like the rational thinking human being that I am, I try to make sense and understand life and what goes on around me. Yet much of life is a paradox and a mystery to me.
News item: CEO pay is 380 times average worker’s.
News item: $0.45 Hourly Wage Increase for American Workers in Last 7 Years, While CEO Pay Increases by More than $5 Million
News Item: Poor in America: A record 46.5 million below poverty line; rate remains stuck at 15 percent
The poverty threshold in the US is $23,492 for a family of four. Billions in the world live on barely a dollar a day. Many will not survive today because of hunger. Many more did not wake up today because of the wars in Syria, Zamboanga, and several other places. Poor nations become poorer and rich ones become richer because of unjust socio-political and economic structures. Indeed it seems that to those who have more will be given and from those who don’t have even the little that they have will be taken away.
And yet, in the midst of all that darkness and misery, I am told – and I believe – I have a light that I can share. I am told to hold it up high, flickering in the dark and dancing in the wind. I can bring light, no matter how dim, into this darkened environment. I can bring joy, no matter how slim, into this benighted world. I can choose to bring healing instead of harm. I can choose to give blessings instead of curses. I can choose to bring laughter instead of tears. Drop by drop, like water dripping from the ceiling forming beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, I will help and contribute to bring about a new and better world where there will be no more weeping and no more tears.
Jesus said to his disciples, “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.”
Luke 8:16-18