That fact and act has flashed on and off in my mind nearly every day since that day a year ago...me, wanting to respond in kind yet seeking to feel forgiveness.
I awoke this morning to the anniversary news which let me know this will be the news all day.
As I stumbled toward my coffee with insurrection looking for its right to be heard, resist not evil edged in.
First thought...oh well, rats. Because...how?
Second thought...it seems that every day this past year, resist not evil has been present to me...in thought, word or trying-to deed.
Now here it is in relation to an insurrection against the United States of America instigated by a sitting President of the United States of America.
We note I'm building my case...yet I'm convinced that's what makes God smile. He knows that's the very thinking needed to turn our thinking around...away from my will toward Thy will, from me to He...or She or It, if you will. To God. Period.
The acceptance of resist not evil brings the question: How?
Comes the answer with all but flashing lights: Love. Resist not evil...love.
The acceptance of resist not evil...love brings the question: How?
I'm convinced the answer is what felled the walls of Jericho...not by might, not by winning the battle but by ceding self to the Divine ever-present power of love. We turn kind and loving thoughts to anyone in need of kind and loving thoughts. The hungry, the downtrodden...the tyrant? The gazillionaire? Uh-oh.
We defeat our purpose when we try sending self-determined love to anyone...Donald J. Trump, his people, the generic Gertrude, any one. Not through self-will but through God's will, grace, we accept them within our own self for our own need. Our own need to love. Which then becomes available to whomever as and when needed.
Apparently "How?" is what grace is for.
Oh my...as I was winding this up, I mishit a key, and this saved-file of mine came on screen:
Since victory and defeat there must be, the victory to be philosophically prayed for is that of the more inclusive side, - of the side which even in the hour of triumph will to some degree do justice to the ideal in which the vanquished party’s interests lay.
The course of history is nothing but the story of men’s struggles from generation to generation to find the more and more inclusive order.
Invent some manner of realizing your own ideals which will also satisfy the [other's] demands, - that and that only is the path of peace!
Invent some manner of realizing your own ideals which will also satisfy the [other's] demands, - that and that only is the path of peace!
From "The Varieties of Religious Experience" by William James (1842-1910)
Don't tell me God isn't working with us...always and all ways.
Thank you.
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