And You Will Be Blessed
I’ve had to wonder—in what way is it a blessing to welcome people who are poor and needy? In what way is it a blessing to associate with the dispossessed and identify with the ones who most people see in terms of “can’t do,” the ones who can’t walk or can’t talk or can’t see or can’t move quickly? In what way could it be a blessing to show hospitality to people who can’t?
Detours
I imagine most of us have fairly straightforward pictures in our heads about what our lives will look like and who we will become. When something happens that is not inside the four corners of that picture, we view it as a detour and hope to get back on track as quickly as possible. So what happens when you take a detour and can't ever get back on that original path again?
Life in the After
I like the word straining. It implies that looking ahead is not easy; it takes effort. We usually think of strain in relation to pain. And maybe that is what Paul is implying: looking ahead is hard, requiring effort and maybe discomfort. But we must strain forward to what lies ahead, though it may feel better to look back.
A Good and Perfect Gift
Before Penny was born, I would have assumed that an extra chromosome was just that, a crack in the cosmos, evidence of the fractured nature of all creation. But how could I imagine such a thing about my daughter? I couldn’t figure it out.