Ah, the life of a seed! Full of potential, ever ready to bring forth life.
The challenge we received this week is to live our lives by going against the current that tells us that we are always "number one." Really? How many "#1" can there really be? Isn't this a set up for great conflicts? Of course it is.
Meditating on the mustard seed, allows me to approach life with humility, the virtue that most of all allows us all to grow because it makes us aware that we are part of a greater whole - the world.
Humility allows the voice of Jezebel (see yesterday's meditation) to remain quiet. It forces us to work against the need we seem to have to put ourselves always in front, manipulate others so that they do what we want, give us what we want. Humility allows me to open myself to the other and respect him or her, value him or her for who truly is: a child of God.
Humility allows me to understand that "unusual" element that Christianity brings into the world. Jesus said: "If you behave like any other, what is unusual about that?" True, as Christians we behave, or should behave in a very unusual way. It's the way that is rooted in the radical call of the Gospel: see the other through the eyes of God and relate to the other as God would and not as we want. Unfortunately we have reduced Christianity only to something that is private, that is devotional, that is warm and fuzzy. The "unusual" element of the Gospel has been completely muted. In doing so, we have made the message of the Good News completely "usual." This is the reason, I think, people consider Christianity as one of the many ideas and opinions that are out there.
I want to reclaim the "unusual" of the Gospel and live it out. I have to start by doing what Jesus wants me to do: Love the other, especially those who are hard to love: the persecutors and the enemies.
With all humility, I have to confess that I do not find this appealing or easy.
So what to do? The Gospel tells me something even more unusual than to love my enemies. Jesus told me that now He lives in me. Then, with Humility and through some "mortification" (putting my Jezebel's voice to death), I can let Jesus in me love the enemy. Like a seed, I choose to die so that He can bring life to others.
By loving my enemies, I actually allow God's love to grow in me. Who knew? Well, I can't wait to go out there and find the many opportunities I will have throughout the day to love everyone, especially those who seem to be unlovable. Even better, I will let God love them through me.
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