As I started this trip, I found myself reflecting on two ideas that seem to be incongruent and yet they exist, tragically. The world is more connected than ever before, and at the same time, it is incredibly broken and fragmented. My in flight entertainment featured music from artists from around the world. Coke has created an album featuring artists from India. I can listen to music from around the globe while sitting on a plane. And if I listen to the voices around me, they are all speaking different languages. And we are all together. In one plane. All of us are taking in the same sensory experiences as we travel across the ocean.
And yet, as I write this, conflict continues in Gaza, Ukraine, and even Ferguson, MIssouri. Ebola continues to spread across West Africa. And people all around are living frustrated and angry lives. We are frustrated by the actions of others. We are frustrated by traffic, by inconvenience. We are angry and impatient.
We have no IDE how truly blessed and broken we are. The world is magical if we don't all ourselves to be consumed by the brokenness within us and around us.
We have an incredible opportunity before us. The world needs US. The world needs ME. The world needs YOU. Perhaps need is too strong of a word. What I mean to say is this. We can contribute to the problems of this world, or we can be the beginning of a tiny revolution from where we live. We can push back the darkness just a little bit. Wee can smile at trying circumstances. We can choose to be a source of light and hope. We can give our time, talents, and reassures in service to God and others.
Or...we can live in the illusion that life is about us. If we choose the latter path, it is substantially easier, but we will never find ourselves satisfied. We I'll never find peace. We will never experience shalom, wholeness, the way things are meant to be.
May we choose the way that allows us not only become more connected, but more whole.
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