Good morning…
Reluctantly, yesterday late afternoon, I canceled my flight to Jacksonville, Florida. Hurricane Dorian lies angrily in wait, dangerously daunting. For months I have looked forward to nestling into deep conversation with author of The Hidden Life Awakened, Kitty Crenshaw, and talking over lunch with our 93-year-old friend, Christian mystic Betty Skinner. On Sunday, I got word that Betty and the other residents in her Ponte Vedra Beach nursing home were being evacuated by bus to an Episcopal campground in central Florida. Sweet Betty said she was going into this unsettling situation with a good attitude, trusting God. On Monday, Kitty packed up her own parents, who are also in their 90’s, and settled them into her own condo with her husband, their daughter and grandkids to wait out the storm. I planned to visit Wednesday morning through Friday night, the same time Dorian might decide to force her high winds and strong storm surges up the coastline of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Have you been like me, regularly checking the news, tracking the path of this horrific hurricane? Devastating footage of Dorian’s relentless beat down in the Bahamas is gut-wrenching. At the same time the heroics of many compassionate people are also being captured.
One such person is Chef Jose Andres, who immediately transports his culinary gifts to areas ravaged by hurricanes, bringing food to those cut off from supplies, organizing volunteers into World Kitchen Relief Teams. “We all are Citizens of the World,” Andres believes. “What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger…you will find who you are.” With a generous heart, Chef Andres embodies the Frederick Buechner quote: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
I think back to the Scripture verse ending yesterday’s post, We Each Play Our Part. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy (Romans 9:14b, MSG). Our Creator sparks compassion, implanting within each of us a deep, authentic gladness to meet the world’s deep, hungry needs.
I ponder the intersection of my own deep gladness (daily writing, passionate prayer, and creative collaboration) and the deep hunger I sense in our world (painful isolation, a core need for intimacy with God, and the comforting presence of God-with-skin-on people). I love that our Maker is in charge of mercy. Our Creator is charge of compassion. I am so grateful that merciful compassion does not originate in my bleeding heart or in my moral sweat. All I do daily is put up the sail of my soul in God’s powerful wind, and I am gladly carried to the people, the places, and the purposes most hungry for my own unique, God-given gifts.
How about you? What opportunities spark your own deep gladness? What do you sense is our world’s deep, hungry need? In this holy place of intersection, how do you see God’s merciful compassion empowering your daily life?
Throughout the week, I have been praying for and texting with my dear friends in Florida. Today, I am asking God to raise up hands-on volunteers to help struggling strangers in the Bahamas. Right now, I am writing this morning message to encourage each one of us to discover God’s call upon our ordinary lives, settling into the place where our deep gladness meets the deep hunger of our world.
…Sue…
P.S. Please watch this inspiring video of Chef Jose Andres organizing volunteers to bringing relief to those ravaged in the Bahamas. God can use all of us of any ages to bring creative compassion to each corner of our globe.
