Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: June 4, 2005
Good Sabbath
June 4, 2005
"It is good to give thanks unto the Lord,
To sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High."
(Psalm 92-Sabbath song)
"Latinos urged to dream big," reads a local newspaper. This is from a classroom in San Marcos which wants the young to know that fate isn't the deciding factor in who succeeds in life. They hold the key to their future. I've often written and lectured the same message. I have little use for advisors or parents who may think that they are religious, but fail at parenthood, by not spawning their child's aspirations.
"Too low they build who build below the skies." (Young)
The fact that no matter how tiny a home or apartment may be, the space between the left and right ears has room to support the most noble of aspirations, and no one is so short who cannot reach for the stars. The new movie "Cinderella Man," tells the story of a boxer, James Braddock, who became a world champion in spite of early failure as a man and money earner. I was a mere child at the time and paid little attention to prize fighting, which I felt was a blood-sport where a man beats another man unconscious. It held no appeal to me, until Joe Louis , "the Brown Bomber", became my hero. Ironically, he was the man who finally defeated Braddock. I could not identify with a boxer until I had to defend myself growing up, against a bully. Bullies transcend generations. They are created, I guess, to test our own courage as well as society's common sense. I've watched bullies and I grew to hate them as I've always hated any kind of tyranny.
The lessons of tyranny tell us that when ignored, they grow in stature and arrogance; they rule countries and school yards. They come in all sizes and shapes. Now as I work on coordinating a major "Gang Summit", within the wonderful Bronze Triangle neighborhood, I've met some, if not amazing, former tyrants/gang leaders, who have shifted their abilities to more constructive paths.
We may reach for stars
But love provides the pathway
to God and each other.
There is no powerful potion,
No energy as unique
As lent by caring for someone else
Who makes life better--
Who makes ambition more real
And yet is as gentle
As we are all supposed to be.
We invented fate
God invented love.
Fran and I go to the graduation of the university's community economic development class, at SDSU. I'll greet students (most all are college grads) who head important not-for-profit organizations (including city and county), who study how to inspire and lead ambitious programs to lift the aspirations and lives of their neighbors. I have gotten more fulfillment from these oft-ignored individuals, than the affluent famous giants. There is a caring on their part, that combines with their ambition, to succeed and help others do the same. They are inspiration and have rewarded me with their welcoming affection and ears and brains.
Politics, because of its rowdiness and expensiveness, focuses on those who treat it like their god, which it is not nor, I pray, never will be. It is temporary passion, ignited too often by envy and destructiveness, rather than feelings that flow from a God of kindness, with Whom we can reach any star or assist any human to their own realized achievements.
I think of Tim Sullivan's Mom who has watched her son reach his own star; marvelous Mike Stepner's daughter who just lost her unborn baby; talented Steve Estrada who travels his own lonely world.
But the world was made to house the lonely, until they emerge from their cocoons to flap their beautiful wings, setting alive waves of currents upon which the spirit soars--patterns which will change their worlds, neighborhoods, and classrooms.
"If any one seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both." (Horace Mann)
Color your dreams with love and they will spring to life, for then, God will take notice and the world will be better.
sandy
