Rubble or Treasure....Ask first.....

I spent this morning sifting through pieces of Israel.  They were small but still had such great significance.  Some in our group found really amazing things - a tooth, a metal drawer handle, a mosaic time, marble from King Harrod’s time... 

As I sifted I couldn’t help but wonder why it had been consider worthless in the first place.  What led those who dumped it to think it of so little value and why didn’t they ask before just casting it aside.  

There as so many times in this journey that is life when the same thing happens to people.  Their hearts, their words their lives considered not important enough to defend.

It seems to me that so much happens on behalf of those who yell the loudest, when in truth it is those whose voices are sometimes the softest that have the most to say.  Those who choose their words and consider the cost of what they say before saying it.  The cost not only to themselves but to the lives of others, even at times those yet unborn.  Just because there is noise doesn’t not mean what is said is the truth.... Just because some has the loudest most persistent voice, does not mean that they are the ones we should be listening to.

Sometimes the noise is a distraction so that we don’t see what is really going on.  We are so busy figuring out what is being shouted at us from one place that we miss what is being done (like the history of a people is being dumped like trash in the night).  

Now... let’s look at what truth and love would say...

Truth digs to find out what is really there.  Love stops the digging process when there is a place that needs work.  Then patience comes in and says, “let’s linger here for a while. Let’s make sure we see all that needs to be seen in this part of the story”.  Nothing is lost in this process and so much is gained.  

This is true for digging in the dirt and for digging into people’s lives.  Care must be taken to remember that while you dig, you remember this is a person’s life.  They have a story and it matters.  It matters to the One who made them.  Who knew them while they were yet in the matrix of their Mother’s womb.  The One who is writing their story with them and knows the end from the beginning.  If we will remember that, we will not be so quick to through out what another person life and story is.  We will be much quicker to defend than destroy.  And...we will make the choice to walk in truth, patience and most off all love as we dig.   

The challenge then is this - love what we dig.... Love the land that we are sifting through whether it is soil or soul.  Let us not be so impatient and let us remember to ask, “is this trash”, before we just toss away what may have meaning to another or add our own trash on top (but that is a blog for another day...).

The truth will always come out and those who disregard or discard it will be seen for who they truly are in time.  I will choose to sift and pour water to wash away the dirt.  I will choose to take the time, be patient and love.  

What will you do?