Carl DeLine

Original Intentions!

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My name is Carl and I am being coached by Grace. It is the Grace of God that stands behind us, is to the right of us, to the left of us and opens doors before us. (If you are comfortable repeat that statement using your own name.)

Scripture: • Genesis 21:8-21 and Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 • Jeremiah 20:7-13 and Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18 • Romans 6:1b-11 • Matthew 10:24-39

Prayer: The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
-Reinhold Niebuhr

Sentence Prayers:
Lord, thank you for the beautiful children in our lives.
Lord, celebrate your hope and your desires in our lives.
Lord, touch our pathway to being and becoming an adult.
Lord, touch our pathway to nurture the child within each one of us.
Lord, help us to know when parenting is supportive and help us to know when it is time to let go.

Music:

“Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord”

“Be Still and Know That I Am God”

“It Is Well With My Soul”

Meditation: Original Intentions

When I first started to read the scripture today I honed in on the image of two children playing together. They were the children of the same father but different mothers. They nonetheless seemed to be playing and enjoying each others company.

The words “Original Intentions” then hit me, is this the way life was intended?

A few years back I was invited to share with a group of school children. I asked them if they could do one thing to make the world a better place for their best friend what would they do?

They were given paper and crayons to answer the question. They were to draw a picture. In a matter of moments the students responded. I listened to each as they imaged what they had in mind. Then one young boy began talking about his picture. It was a picture with two sides. On one side was an image of global and world peace. The next image was that of a child being removed from the school yard. I asked the boy to explain. He said I want my best friend to have a safe place to play. If we teach the bullies how to play they will stop being bullies. If we stop having bullies there will be no more war. Bullies grow up and just keep bullying.

I stood without a response. The bell rang and class was over.

The story in Genesis has a tremendous amount of history to it. It is a history of greed, dishonesty, war that has visited generation after generation. We know it today as our ancestors knew it then.

I am going to digress for a moment and look at this idea of Original Intentions.

Over thirty years ago the city of Calgary was in a war. It was a typical war for Canada. It was the East against the West. Just like in the United States the country was divided. In the states it was the North and the South. In Europe there are other divisions. Some of these divisions are found due to money, water rights, mineral rights, etc. The Canadian war was very real. The newspapers were dotted with stories of what the recession was doing to tear families apart. In one church some kids started talking. They decided to go door to door to collect food. What they didn’t know was other kids would come on board. They raised tons of food.

One has to wonder if the simplicity of play, of children isn’t/wasn’t a part of the Original Intention.

Some years after that as the war continued it was noticed that young people were ending up on the streets. Homeless, without safe shelter. Some eighth grade students came to our office and said they wanted to do a special project. We sat and talked. For the remainder of the semester students kept showing up in our office. They sat in the board room talking together, making a list of rental units in Calgary. It wasn’t long before a rental directory was created. Students were joined by adults. Something very positive and very simple was created.

Somehow as I see the two boys playing together in Genesis, I wonder what the Original Intentions for them actually was. The prophet Jeremiah and the writers of the Psalms paint a bleak picture. It is something many of us have experienced. The darkness of the soul does not get touched by the light of the young children. Each day the battle for physical and emotional health of our being gets thrown into one more episode of the war. What is, what has become an ongoing way of life for our global way of thinking says it is still okay to interrupt the Original Intention.

This week one of our members, herself a ping pong ball in the health care system, received a double lung transplant. She has a new lease on life. She is excited and she excites others as she takes one breath at a time. In the midst of her ongoing battle she shared this with the group. The Health Minister of Newfoundland and Labrador have announced a new starting point in health care. They have essentially said lets go back to the children and ask them what they are doing, what they need to do. Then create a supportive structure to see the children have the opportunities to live.

Perhaps this is what Jesus is angry about when he says it straight. I have come to cut through all this junk that controls and manipulates people. Perhaps this is what Jesus is talking about when in our world we see all the waste going to maintain empty buildings. Perhaps this is what Jesus is upset about when he dices words cutting the fat. Perhaps this is what Jesus is implying when he leads us back to the original intentions.

Closing Thoughts: “On Eagle’s Wings”