“So the Word became human and made his home among us…” – John 1:14
WHAT GREATER DEMONSTRATION OF FAITHFUL BELIEF AND LOVE THAN THIS?
We like to think of all the spaces of love, kindness and creativity that fill us with joy and a sense of well-being about where He is – with the meditator, the grateful, the happy in heart, the creator of beauty, the gardener – the ones who seek Him and reflect Him.
But there are other places where He makes His home, places where love, beauty, kindness, and peace are hard to find but much in need. That is where He goes.
- He stands in line at the mission waiting for food, his meal for the day.
- He sits with the runaway cradling her head as she sleeps.
- He pitches his tent in the middle of all the other tents gathered beneath the bridge and huddles by the fire.
- He hunkers down low in the alley beside several bottles and a gang member as a bullet whizzes by.
- He is there in the thicket, on the battlefield as humanity tears each other apart.
- He stands in intensive care where a family sobbing gather around the one whose life is slipping away.
- He sits with the homebound patiently and unhurried, no other place He’d rather be.
- He pitches his tent in the midst of the rubble after a horrific hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake and every bombing. He is found there in the middle of it all.
- And, He takes his place at the dinner table where mother and daughter bicker bitterly wounding and hurting each other—one more time.
In every world event, community conflict and individual pressure of day-to-day problems, He is there: there living among us, offering presence, aid, help, love, kindness and hope.
And He asks us to be and do the same: to make our home in the midst of others, take our place and stand or huddle or hug or bow down low, whatever is needed, to offer kindness, hope, healing and love.
ABOUT SUSAN RAGSDALE
Susan Ragsdale is the best-selling co-author of Great Group Games: 175 Boredom-Busting, Zero-Prep Team Builders for All Ages and 7 other books including their latest from Search Institute Press, Groups, Troops, Clubs & Classrooms: The Essential Handbook for Working with Youth. A nationally recognized trainer in positive youth development, service-learning, and play with purpose, she partners with schools and after-school programs for professional development. Learn more through her website and her blog and follow her on Twitter @TheAssetEdge.
Susan’s latest creation, Brain Boosters for Groups in a Jar, written with Ann Saylor was released in April 2016 with Free Spirit Publishing.