As I walk Cocoa, the Wonder Dog, I notice the signs in the yards. "We Have an Honor Student at ABC School!" Sometimes you see similar stickers on car bumpers or in the back windows. Folks are obviously proud, as they should be, of the work of their child/ren.
But I have never seen a sign in a yard, on a car, or anywhere else that says, "We Have a Child who Practices Justice."
Isn't it interesting the things we are proud about? Our homes, our cars, our children, our communities, our countries, our clothes - we all have that list that we carry around and pull out and show to folks if they are interested.
Yet, according to Jeremiah 9:23-24, God takes delight in righteousness, in justice, and in love that is constant and enduring. And if we are to boast about anything, it should be about the simple fact that we know the things which delight God, and understand that when we do those things, when we practice those things, when we model those things, then we do indeed have something to be proud of.
Homes and cars and clothes and all the trappings of our lives are wonderful, but those simple acts of kindness, those daily ways we show people we love them, the courage to speak out on behalf of the marginalized, the willingness to do right no matter the cost - those are the things that shape our lives and the lives of all of God's children.
(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman
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