I had a dream inspiration recently. It was set at Olswick's Dam, one half mile east of my childhood home on the prairie farm.
Had I been an Old Testament prophet it would have been called a vision and the language would have sounded like this: In my vision I climbed the hill to the East and saw the water flowing over the dam and into the great valley from all sides; and water welling from every side filled the huge ravine. Some waters turned back on themselves, boiling up with lightning clashing within, threatening to flood the whole earth instead of watering it.
In fear I hastened back to my family living down stream with this warning: "We are all powerful streams of love that flow smoothly out to bring life to all around us. When this love is thwarted, blocked; its power boils up with destructive force, turning on itself, fomenting hatred.
This hatred clashes on itself, spawning envy, anger and jealousy, drying up the water flow even as it boils over, clashing with itself in great destructive forces. Fear and anger surround it. What is needed is soothing forgiveness.
Love is the most powerful force in us. Its opposite, hate, is just as powerful. The one builds while the other destroys. To what should we give our energies?
In an earlier article entitled "What's it all about" I said that as Christians, we have the advantage of viewing the world through the filter of Christ's love. We are constantly in the love of God and we are to love others as constantly. Forgiveness is daily and unconditional, as God's love.
Love, empathy, care for others is the basis of civilization. Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked this question about her work, "What was the first sign of civilization? Was it the axe-head,an arrowhead, a fish hook? Or a musical instrument or a coloured ceramic bowl?" She said, "The first sign of civilization for me was the discovery of a broken leg bone, the healed femur bone of a human being." That demonstrated civilization. That, for Meade, was the sign of true civilization. For a bone to be healed, she maintained, another human being had to care for that person until the bone healed.
Christians leaving their Sunday morning liturgical encounter with Christ go forth to love and serve one another in the community. This is more than a "romantic glow". It touches real life and real suffering; it brings real joy and alleviates real pain.
In the end it is an internal choice: which of the two wolves inside us do we feed? (from a native American tale, author unknown). One is good and one is bad. The one that wins is the one we feed.
