HELLO!

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35

“The Passover was near and Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip, he drove all of them out of the temple. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making this house a marketplace.” John 2:13-16

One of my favorite hymns is Voices United 117, “Jesus is Waiting” as it focuses on how Jesus’ emotions are tied to his actions. Note how his grief over Lazarus moves him to offer healing to his friends. How Jesus’ anger, directed at those profiteering from the practice of exchanging coins, from Roman to Temple (moneychangers gouging the poor) have their tables turned upside down. Jesus wants no one excluded from worship.

I can be rather dismissive and cynical about statements made when emotions run hot. One example I often site happened after the fires in our area, causing many of us to be evacuated for 5-14 days. Our subdivision was spared of any house fires, but the one across the Hammonds Plains Road was not so fortunate. After we were allowed to go back to our homes I heard many exclaim, with deep feeling and conviction, “I will never complain about rain again.” Except they did. Do I remind them of their previous statements, when they tell me, “What a terrible summer, all this rain”? Yes, I do. And it reminds me not to take statements made when emotions run high, too seriously. If you are interested why I find compliments so hard to accept, you have your answer. And…that same person, telling you how wonderful you are, can easily become your worst critic, if you let them down. I do listen to what people say, and I can likely repeat these statements back to the author without much difficulty. As for what I take as lasting? The actions of people are typically how I evaluate what they truly feel about things.

If people tell me how much they care about something, I am interested in how they demonstrate said concern. And if you think I am being too hard on others, I am triply hard on myself. If I make a statement there is a part of me that immediately asks, “so what are you going to do about it?” I am not very sentimental, in part because I find when I myself indulging in sentimentalism (and I do) I have this inner voice that demands to know “and how do you intend to act on these feelings” and “are you being consistent with other statements you make”. When I am sad, happy or angry, Kim tells me she can see my mind racing, “what am I going to do about this” and “am I being consistent”. She tells me, “You don’t need to add anything to your feelings”. Of course she is right. But at 62, that linkage, feelings to action, remain ingrained and lasting. Peace, Kevin