Sunday, January 6, 2013

Garbage men & Osama bin Laden

When Andrew, was graduating from eighth grade, his school had a thing called “Blastoff” instead of eighth grade graduation.

It was a chance for parents to publicly say something nice about their children before they entered high school. The idea was, the encouragement would help “launch” them into a successful four years.

It makes for an awkward evening when the love language spoken in your home is sarcasm.

We listened to parent after parent talk about how wonderful their child was. Some made us wonder if they actually lived together, due to the discrepancy between what they were saying and their kid’s behavior at school.

As a woman droned on about how awesome her princess was, she said, “I love you and you can be anything you want to be. Anything in the world you want to be, you can be.”

I couldn't take it anymore, leaned over to Andrew and whispered, “I want to be a garbage man.” Drew whispered back, “I want to be Osama bin Laden.”

What our sarcasm was trying to expose was; mom was sweet and well intentioned, but, she would not be OK if her daughter became a garbage man. She had bigger hopes and dreams for her.

It made me wonder what God’s hopes and dreams are for me. Would he be proud of me if I was a garbage man?

Maybe.

We seem to place emphasis on what people do. Some occupations are more “prestigious” some more “spiritual.” But I don’t think God really sees it that way. I think the question he is more likely concerned with is, “Are you loving the people I put in front of you every day?”

Because we elevate jobs we minimize our ability to have an impact in the world. Statements like, “I’m just a garbage man,” or “I’m no Mother Theresa” free us from the responsibility to engage the world as God would have us engage it.

So, while your Mom may want you to be a doctor some day, God just wants you to be his. Ask him what it means to love the people in your community, in your neighborhood, in your home.

Jesus said, “Love God and love others.” You can even do that when you’re unemployed. 

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