only surrender to the need of the time

only surrender to the need of the time -
love justice and walk humbly with your god.

only surrender to the need of the time

time. in each country i've lived in, time as worked a little bit differently. in argentina, when something started at 3pm, you were expected to show up at 3:45ish. slovakia is no exception. things don't really have to start on-time. it's not as vital as it has been (for me at least) in the states. not only that, a lot of my time has been spent just being. i've written about this before, but oftentimes, it is just "being" that is most meaningful.

today, i was invited over to fraňa and martin's for sunday lunch. martin brought my friend and i over straight from church and we spent the afternoon with them. we started out with (a delicious) lunch and then had ice cream and coffee (from a coffeemaker!!) on the patio while we talked. then we headed inside where we had keksy (snack-ish things) and talked some more. before we knew it, it was after 4:30!

the need of the time here is to be with each other, to take time to talk (and, oftentimes, to eat). the concern is not about "getting down to business." i don't worry about what we need to talk about or figure out, it's about spending time together, trusting that we will get to what is important, and we will be better off for the winding road we took to get there than if we had taken the 8 lane highway straight there and back.

love justice and walk humbly with your god

micah 6:8. one of my favorite verses. love justice. what does that mean? for me to love justice involves ubuntu, the concept that my humanity is completely bound up in your humanity. if you suffer from injustice, then i, too, suffer from injustice. if you are discriminated against, i am discriminated against. if you are hated, i am hated.

justice also involves making things right. justice is not vengence. it is not a way to get back at the one who did you wrong. it is a way to recover from the wrong experienced. it's not always fair, but it is a way of understanding the world that brings humans from all ends of earth closer. it brings us towards a common understanding. justice is a way of increasing the love in this world.

walk humbly with your god. for me, humility can seem like a really easy thing, but in reality it can be really hard. i can be proud, occasionally arrogant (proud taken to the unhealthy extreme), but i can also take humility to the unhealthy extreme. i can take it to the point of shame. there are things in my life about which i have been made to feel ashamed. i have had to hide them from others out of fear or uncertainty.

walking humbly with god means not being ashamed. not being ashamed of who you are. not being ashamed of how god created you. not being ashamed of god. when much of the world tells you that you are worthless (whether it is because of the color of your skin, where you were born, which language you speak, how much money your parents make, who you love, etc.), it is easy to feel shame, and sometimes nearly impossible to feel proud or walk humbly with your god.

walking humbly with god means resting in the comfort of the one who made you, who formed you in your mother's womb, who has counted every hair on your head. it means knowing that god loves you more than you could ever comprehend. it means knowing that you are god's good creation.

it also means knowing that each and every person has been specially made by god. that each interaction you have is with one of god's beloved children. being in awe of that fact and being in awe of the god who made us while standing together with all of god's children to love and work for justice is walking humbly with your god. walking humbly with god means walking with the least of those our society rejects and dismisses.

only surrender to the need of time -
love justice and walk humbly with your god.