Day 119: Standing Up

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."  Luke 16:10

This is a harsh call for all of us to remember where we belong.

We all live in this world where there are lots of jet streams that are beating against our heads every day.  Those winds consist of discrimination, disrespect, and pure hate.  However, we cannot let those things bring us down.

I thank God that I am living in a time when the American people are getting over their fear of non-heterosexual relationships.  Sure, there are still many challenges, and I do receive a curse from time to time, but I do have quite a bit of support, not the least of which comes from my very family.  At the same time, though, I know of countless people living in this same country, and even in my same city, who face discrimination from their own families for various reasons.  Traditions can be harmful, just as they can be comforting.  I have friends whom I talk through these situations they face.  I can usually come away from these conversations with a praise to God for helping me have an easier time than others.

And that's where this verse comes in.  Many times, when we see everything going quite well for us, we start to lose sight of what actually is going on around us.  There are wars going on in different countries, and there are terrors being made both abroad and in our backyard.  There are governments sanctioning the murder of countless people for being who they are, and there are mobs of people who want to make sure that things won't get better around here.  There are many poor people wandering the streets, unable to afford any sort of healthcare for some seemingly simple diseases, and there are yet even more people who won't have a roof over their head when it rains.

I have to remember to show the same love that God has shown me.  God has reached down to my level to hold me, and I need to do the same for everybody who is around me.  The Gospel calls all of us to reach out and spread the Kingdom of Heaven.  And what exactly is that Kingdom?  It's a kingdom of love.  It's something that we haven't ever seen here on earth, what with all the corruption, money, and greed that has existed in every single government known to history.  The Heavenly Kingdom is the realm of love that exists between gays and straights, cisgendered people and transgendered, colored and not, the rich and the poor.  If God can reach for each one of us, who waver in our faith and abandon God entirely from time to time, so too can we reach out to all those who live in our same world breathing our same air.