I have a good friend who has been caring for his elderly mother. She sits in a wheel chair, complains a lot, and requires constant attention — to the point of cleaning her up after regular bouts of diarrhea. What my friend and his wife are doing is heroic, virtue with a capital V. But it is hard to see how it is "world changing" as we normally think about such things. Such an act doesn't even change the mother's life, only makes it less miserable. It's not even "significant," by our usual calculation, but "merely" an act of love.When we think of making a difference, we think about making the world a better place for the next generation, not taking care of people who have no future....As usual, Jesus turns this whole conversation on its head....His is an ethic that glorifies giving a mere cup of water to a thirsty soul (Matt. 10:42), praises the relatively worthless donation of an indigent widow (Mark 12:41-44), visits those who have disappeared from history, and honors the one who changes the diapers of the incontinent.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Search for Significance?
This election day, my vote is going to Mark Galli, for this excellent article. From Insignificant is Beautiful:
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2 comments:
I saw this too and thought I might link to it. The search for significance is a blind alley. The acceptance of insignificance (from the world's view) is the way of the Christ follower. Where do you live, they asked him, and he answered, come see. What they discovered was that he had no home at all.
"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, but the world did not know him. he came to his own and his own people did not receive him..."
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