goodness of the Lord

There are days when it seems the world just gets stranger and stranger. Athletes get multi-million raises for subpar years, while teachers are expected to take pay cuts. The city in which I live is planning on building a brand new streetcar system which will serve a small section of the town, but roads continue to go unrepaired. Ads on television promote cars that start at "only" $50,000.  Politicians seem to believe that civility and consensus are the spawn of the devil.
Sometimes it is just hard to see the kin-dom.

But then I remember . . .

. . . Eleanor Roosevelt moving her chair purposely into the
aisle between the white and black sections of a segregated
conference in Birmingham, Alabama, rallying the spirits of
African-American citizens in the 1930's;

. . . Pee Wee Reese going over to Jackie Robinson and
putting his arm around Robinson as racial epithets were
hurled at the first African-American in baseball's major
leagues, telling the crowd, and the world, 'this is not only
my teammate, this is my friend;'

. . . the retired volunteer at the local school, who went
back to school to learn Spanish, so she could communicate
with a new generation of students;

. . . the faithful folk who year after year, with great faith and
determination, protest the Trident missiles in Scotland;

. . . the husband who immediately signed both of them up
for classes in dealing with Alzheimer's when his wife was
first diagnosed with the condition.

. . . the older sister who takes her little brother by the hand
patiently teaching him to wait, look both ways, and look again,
before crossing the street;

and in those people, in those moments, I see the goodness
of the Lord.

© 2013 Thom M. Shuman

'Lenten and Easter Nudges' is an e-book of Bible readings and short prayers
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