“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?'”                         -Romans 8, Holy Bible, The Message Version

“We have only a life, and the choice of how we are going to live it must be our own choice, not one that we let the world make for us.” -Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life

A childlike wonder.

That’s what happens when we really think about it. It’s like we wake up one day and realize our lives are filled with so much grace, so much love, which we really don’t deserve. We realize their are people who really love us, and for the life of us, we don’t know why. We wake up to the fact that we are among those human beings whose basic needs are met and we have the opportunity to move through our days without excessive concern about next meals or safe places to sleep. Our awareness rises, informing us that we have far more opportunity to do, to be, to make something of ourselves than do so many others in this world.

How does this happen? Why is it that some of us are born into families who support our development, positioning us to become responsible adults who can fend for ourselves? Why is that others, through no fault of their own, are born into such chaos and brokenness that 98% of their waking energy is spent just trying to climb out of a hole?

So, do I thank God that I started where I started and not in places of deprivation or desperation? Does God take or want the credit for this; knowing that means somehow God’s involved in the plight of others who were born into circumstances far worse?

Whatever God’s role was/is in our beginnings, here’s what I know about the present and future. Spending a life putting others down to build us up is wasted life. Instead, we are here to make our contribution. We are here on this revolving globe with purpose. We are here to contribute to the common good, to make a difference in the circumstances of others. We don’t have choice over the places where we began, yet we have so much choice over the places we go today. God is calling us forward, calling us to make our contribution with the one potential-packed life we receive. This resurrection life is not timid or anxious. Resurrection life is “adventurously expectant.” May we engage life as we find it today, looking for the opportunities to spend ours with abandon, making our contribution to the common good of us all.

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?'”                         -Romans 8, Holy Bible, The Message Version

“We have only a life, and the choice of how we are going to live it must be our own choice, not one that we let the world make for us.” -Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life

A childlike wonder.

That’s what happens when we really think about it. It’s like we wake up one day and realize our lives are filled with so much grace, so much love, which we really don’t deserve. We realize their are people who really love us, and for the life of us, we don’t know why. We wake up to the fact that we are among those human beings whose basic needs are met and we have the opportunity to move through our days without excessive concern about next meals or safe places to sleep. Our awareness rises, informing us that we have far more opportunity to do, to be, to make something of ourselves than do so many others in this world.

How does this happen? Why is it that some of us are born into families who support our development, positioning us to become responsible adults who can fend for ourselves? Why is that others, through no fault of their own, are born into such chaos and brokenness that 98% of their waking energy is spent just trying to climb out of a hole?

So, do I thank God that I started where I started and not in places of deprivation or desperation? Does God take or want the credit for this; knowing that means somehow God’s involved in the plight of others who were born into circumstances far worse?

Whatever God’s role was/is in our beginnings, here’s what I know about the present and future. Spending a life putting others down to build us up is wasted life. Instead, we are here to make our contribution. We are here on this revolving globe with purpose. We are here to contribute to the common good, to make a difference in the circumstances of others. We don’t have choice over the places where we began, yet we have so much choice over the places we go today. God is calling us forward, calling us to make our contribution with the one potential-packed life we receive. This resurrection life is not timid or anxious. Resurrection life is “adventurously expectant.” May we engage life as we find it today, looking for the opportunities to spend ours with abandon, making our contribution to the common good of us all.