R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall --think of it, ALWAYS."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Last night we watched Ghandhi. I wasn't really just sitting there watching ... I had a couple of phone calls. I was finishing up work on a talk I am giving next month. People I care about are struggling with some things. Women I've come to love (and some I don't know personally) are slogging their way through divorce. And after a couple of days of wonderful, soft rain, yesterday I discovered a leak in one corner of the basement that's getting worse. In the middle of the night last night I woke up with a sense of discouragement. I felt tired and worried and unsure about life and my part in it. I lay in my bed just sort of praying and dozing and fretting. So I finally got up, put the coffee on and here I am trying to write about discouragement. I don't have any specific answers, but I will think about what parts of the Ghandi movie I did watch last night. Ghandi had a purpose. He had a goal. He lived his life true to that goal, and even through the inevitable discouragements, he managed to have a spirit of never giving up. The way of truth and love always won through every setback. (They always do in the end.) I'm not dealing with tyrants and murderers ... I'm just dealing with life's normal irritations and worries. I am going to pray that God will work through the discouragements, and I know he will continue to work his will in spite of how I personally am feeling at this moment. But you know what, just admitting my discouragement to God (and to you) helps. And even though it's still raining that nice soft, steady rain as I look out my window, I know the sun is shining somewhere, and soon it will be shining here, too. Now, I'm going to go get a cup of coffee ... things are beginning to look a little brighter already.

"And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after awhile we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don't get discouraged and give up."
Galatians 6:9 (The Living Bible)