Thoughts From the Porch: It’s kind of cold, not chilly, but cold on the porch this morning. It’s a reminder why the old folks say, “never plant tomatoes until after Easter”. Mine are going in today. The rest of the garden is green and growing. It may be cold this morning, but Spring has finally sprung here in Fort Worth.
I’ve had the honor to spend time with some fantastic people the last couple of weeks: some old friends and some new. Some of you know about the gathering this past weekend. In the spirit of anonymity, I’ll not share more, except for one little moment you might find humorous.
My son went with us this weekend. Following the meeting Saturday night, we sat out on the patio (the designated smoking area), laughing and spending time with old friends. He came up to me during a lull in the conversations and remarked, “This is such a weird group of people”. I prefer to call them eclectic, but he was right. All I could say was “yep”…
I love our old friends. We are a weird group of folks. We’re people who ordinarily wouldn’t mix and yet, there we were. I sat for a good while just watching my friends enjoy their evening with one another, pondering the picture in front of me. There was more diversity – racial, class, background, political views, sexual orientation, religious, non-religious… – than I certainly ever grew up with. There was a spirit of peace, serenity, friendship, and joy. It was kind of like church should be…
I’ve also been able to spend time with some new friends. We’ve met several times to discuss a shared vision of making our local community a better place, especially for the people who normally get overlooked. In turn, they’ve introduced me to more new people and reconnected me with some old contacts in the community activist arena. Experience has taught me that every time I begin to feel limited in the possibilities for a better, stronger community for ALL of us, God reminds me I’m not alone. I’ll write more about our shared goals and activities in the future.
In both instances, neither group is what I would consider religious by nature, but I imagine it’s more like the “kingdom of Heaven” than good religious folks would like to believe. In both instances, some individuals have ties to organized religion, but many don’t. The words “kingdom of Heaven” may not be the words they would use to describe what’s going on around them. They just seem to have a love for a Higher Power, whatever that is for them, and a love for others. I seem to remember hearing something similar from a guy named Jesus…
In both instances, personal piety isn’t what defines them but rather, how they serve others. One of the gentlemen I spoke to yesterday was sharing his vision for the future and then said he didn’t mean to sound so “lofty”. It didn’t sound “lofty” to me. It sounded more like God’s vision for His people, His creation…
As I sat on the porch this morning, I was once again extremely grateful for the people in my life today. I can’t think of a better bunch of folks – however weird we may be…
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