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| Backyard art |
...give me neither poverty nor riches;
provide me only with the food I need;
Lest, being full, I deny you,
saying, "Who is the LORD?"
Or, being in want, I steal,
and profane the name of my God.
Once again we hear the Hebrew Proverbialists speaking simple wisdom. They will not pretend to be saints, asking for overwhelming distress so as to prove their love of God. They don't aspire to be heroes.
Recently I committed the grave error of responding to a pro-gun blogger. At last count I received angry rebukes from a half-dozen correspondents. My brief experience reminded me that the pro-gun lobby is touchy, foul-mouthed and have too much time on their hands. You would think that a lobby that controls both houses of Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court would not be terribly anxious.
But, like Alexander the Great, they need more battles to fight and more wars to win. They are heroes. They dream of the opportunity to do battle with a shooter like Jared Lee Loughner or James Holmes. In a movie theater near you!
The Christian has only one hero, and that is Jesus. We keep our sights fixed on him. If I met someone who told me the Holy Spirit has roused in her a desire for heroic opportunities, I would advise her to get a very good spiritual director, and not me. I'm doing well to avoid the temptations of chocolate and oversleeping, and I fail often.
America has already seen too many romantic heroes. It was romantic notions that drove us into Vietnam almost fifty years ago. We could remake that unfortunate land in our own image. And then we fell for the sucker punch of 9/11 to rush into Afghanistan and Iraq. Heroes! We would save the world from terrorism. We called for, but wouldn't wait for, the help of other nations. We could do it ourselves.
Behind, like every hero, behind the Lone Ranger's mask, we neglect our own children. The sick, the disabled, the elderly, the imprisoned and the needy go begging. We have the world's strongest military -- and no one to fight with but each other; which is why the body politic is split right down the middle between red and blue states.
Lord, give us neither poverty nor riches;
Our wealth is driving us insane; but our dread of poverty is crippling;
provide us only with the food we need;
something healthy and nourishing, but no more than that;
Lest, being full, we deny you, saying, "Who is the LORD?"
as we have too many times already;
Or, being in want, we steal,
from our children's future and the world's resources
and profane the name of God.
These words from Proverbs and your commentary describe our country's struggle with obesity. "..provide us only the food we need...." How much do we need? What healthy and nourishing foods are available to us? Questions I know I struggle with.
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