This is posted beside my computer: Do not let any unkind talk come out of my computer, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. This is paraphrased from Ephesians 4:29.
This is my hope in posting here: that those who face the challenges of dealing with an incarcerated loved one or family member, or someone with influence in our lives who engages in illegal or unethical behavior might find for themselves hope, ideas for coping, comfort both by the knowledge that others are walking the same journey and, more importantly, that the Spirit of God is always by our side, delighted when we question and explore and share our longings and begin considering new and more effective ways of living.
Not all the challenges I have slogged through have included incarceration and illegal behaviors, so I have come to appreciate the we all have times when our own assumptions, egos, fear and distrust leave us incarcerated in our own heads in ways that harm us and those we love. I hope this speaks to a larger audience, both to inform about issues relating to the legal system and the effects that lawlessness and carelessness have on an ever enlarging circle of sorrow, and to the commonality of our human condition. We long for something more, but settle for striving for more things. We long for forgiveness and reconciliation, but refuse it to those who we feel have caused us modest distress or embarrassment. We want to believe, but aren't quite willing to let go of the bad but familiar to make room for new and therefore scary changes.
Because this is an election year, I will speak to some legislative issues occasionally. Many candidates have training in law schools, have even practiced law at some point. But they are either woefully short of memory or are overwhelmed with legislative systems that are run amok with nonsense. (I asked an acquaintance why he was not running for reelection to the state house of representatives. He said life was too short to argue about the state moth.) As members of the electorate, we must be asking pointed questions with a larger view. My U.S. senator was recently bragging about protecting young families from financial abuse when booking expensive vacations. Is this really the MOST important issue on the table in a nation where homelessness, excessive incarnation rates, too many students who can't read well and corruption has become so commonplace as to be tolerated as inescapable? This senator is smart and correctly reading an electorate that would rather rant about their collective skinned knees than stand in line behind children who are not living in safe communities, children not attending schools adept at preparing them academically, morally or financially to forge better lives for their own children, and children whose parents who, having "paid for their crime," are denied jobs needed to feed and cloth them.
Thoughtful comments welcome. Rants will be deleted even if I find myself sympathetic to points made.
This is my hope in posting here: that those who face the challenges of dealing with an incarcerated loved one or family member, or someone with influence in our lives who engages in illegal or unethical behavior might find for themselves hope, ideas for coping, comfort both by the knowledge that others are walking the same journey and, more importantly, that the Spirit of God is always by our side, delighted when we question and explore and share our longings and begin considering new and more effective ways of living.
Not all the challenges I have slogged through have included incarceration and illegal behaviors, so I have come to appreciate the we all have times when our own assumptions, egos, fear and distrust leave us incarcerated in our own heads in ways that harm us and those we love. I hope this speaks to a larger audience, both to inform about issues relating to the legal system and the effects that lawlessness and carelessness have on an ever enlarging circle of sorrow, and to the commonality of our human condition. We long for something more, but settle for striving for more things. We long for forgiveness and reconciliation, but refuse it to those who we feel have caused us modest distress or embarrassment. We want to believe, but aren't quite willing to let go of the bad but familiar to make room for new and therefore scary changes.
Because this is an election year, I will speak to some legislative issues occasionally. Many candidates have training in law schools, have even practiced law at some point. But they are either woefully short of memory or are overwhelmed with legislative systems that are run amok with nonsense. (I asked an acquaintance why he was not running for reelection to the state house of representatives. He said life was too short to argue about the state moth.) As members of the electorate, we must be asking pointed questions with a larger view. My U.S. senator was recently bragging about protecting young families from financial abuse when booking expensive vacations. Is this really the MOST important issue on the table in a nation where homelessness, excessive incarnation rates, too many students who can't read well and corruption has become so commonplace as to be tolerated as inescapable? This senator is smart and correctly reading an electorate that would rather rant about their collective skinned knees than stand in line behind children who are not living in safe communities, children not attending schools adept at preparing them academically, morally or financially to forge better lives for their own children, and children whose parents who, having "paid for their crime," are denied jobs needed to feed and cloth them.
Thoughtful comments welcome. Rants will be deleted even if I find myself sympathetic to points made.
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