To Care and Not to Care

  I'm thankful for women like Sara Kay Mooney who share poetry that helps keep us alive. I never read much poetry up until maybe a couple years ago. That's when I needed something that wasn't neat and orderly because a Pandemic will teach you that. I liked the otherness of it...the freedom of words that  could mean this or that but then suddenly, you know exactly what it means. In her recent weekly Lent email, where she writes a short reflection and shares a poem, Sara brings up the question, "Do I want to be right or do I want to be healed?" I suppose this is something I'll always battle. I too, have lived and walked in too many circles where it's just easier to pull that fruit right off the tree and say to God, "Look, I can help you out just a little. I have great ideas! I don't know if You know this but, those people over there have really let themselves go and they're being such horrible witnesses for You!" But what happens when just

  Psalm 7 Deuteronomy 10:17-21 2 Peter 3:8-11 I was listening to the news the other day after dropping my boys off at school. As I pulled into my driveway, a man from the U.S. Senate was being interviewed about our role in the war in Ukraine. His answer created a knot in my stomach. “They need more weapons. The Ukranian freedom fighters need to win. We don't need them to lose slowly, we need them to win. They need to kill more Russians. In order to do that, we need to give them more weapons.” He spoke so firmly, it was as if there was no other answer. How often do we just blurt out a judgment on a situation or person? How often do I justify myself in my words and actions because I want justice now? All the time. I was struck by the Psalmist's inner conflict in Psalm 7. In one entire Psalm, he pours out three options to God, very aware of his own limited sense of justice. In the first part he says, “If I deserve punishment, then God let my enemies have their way.” In t