That's Just the Way the World Works

In an interesting and quite heated conversation with my teenagers over the many injustices found in society today, the comments and questions slowly turned towards the topic of healing.

In particular, one question came to dominate the discussion. Namely, they asked: Is there a way out of the current mess or are we stuck, with every generation doomed to repeat the same evils?

Now, I don’t know how you feel about it. And I don’t even know if you have thought about it before, but in my house, these kinds of topics are legion, and I insist that my children have some thoughts of their own about them.

Much like on other occasions, today I was not disappointed either.

The world may work that way,” he said, as he looked around for any sudden objections, “but the heart doesn’t need to. We can heal the heart.

Trying to ground us in reality, my daughter took an assertive lead, “We know there are evils in the world, both in the human heart and places where people gather. But we can’t be naive, that’s the way the world works.”

At this the other kids nodded in approval (or at least in thought) as they considered what seemed to be some pretty wise words.

After a moment’s pause, Benjamin spoke up, which is unusual as he is the quiet, reflective type.

Going slowly to make sure that he formed his words correctly, he began to unravel what he hoped was something more insightful still, “The world may work that way,” he said, as he looked around for any sudden objections, “but the heart doesn’t need to. We can heal the heart. In fact, it seems like that is what Jesus asked us to do.”

“And if we can heal the heart,” my younger son Jonah carried on, slowly but instinctively, “then we could probably heal society.”

Then there was silence.

But it was a good kind of silence, like something was changing and growing that needed to because it was now time.

“So, in conclusion,” my eldest Gabriel chimed in, a smile coming to his lips as he looked more directly at me, his father—the full time evangelist—“we need to evangelize.”

Well said.

in Christ,

patrick