Ugh.
How many blissful late-morning breezes carrying how many whimsical, fluffy, white cumulonimbus in a dance around a warm, smiling sun have been missed because of this early rising, worm catching joy killer?
The early bird.
The mythical figure of punctuality, work ethic and persevering effort who judges me from his well stocked perch as my morning unfolds languidly and purposelessly before him.
Beneath him.
The early bird.
How I try and fall short of the glory of the early bird.
No matter my frenzy and toil, I never measure up.
Even when I get up early and accomplish so much! That early bird still seems to be judging me. I mean how many times have I laid my head down on the pillow at night feeling like I have successfully "caught the worm" so to speak.
Do we ever actually catch the worm?
For the early bird it's so simple; he gets up and catches one worm.
Is it really that simple for us?
I've been reading the sermon on the mount.
I've been reading it over and over.
I got stuck on "blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth".
It doesn't make sense, like much of what Jesus said (no offence to you, the Author and Perfecter, the Beginning and the End... but I'm just the imperfect, somewhere in the middle reader and I don't get it).
So, I've been stuck here at meekness. Wondering all about it.
I read a definition of meekness in one concordance which says:
Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God's goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23).
And I didn't get that either.
So I thought about it over and over.
Meekness is choosing to receive everything without resistance or self interest because it comes from a good God for our good.
All evil is his refinement.
His Authoring of a story that is full of Perfecting Purposes.
Meekness.
God, in control, disciplining.
When someone is chewing gum really loudly beside me.
When Shane follows the car in front of us too closely.
When I have to wait my turn.
When I am misunderstood.
When people I love let me down.
When people I love lose things and people they love.
When accidents happen.
When death and disease happen.
Blessed are the meek.
I keep reading this over and over.
Trying to understand.
Blessed are those who receive every hard, bad, painful thing as a sign of love. As evidence of family ties to Our Father.
Blessed are those who don't work toward their own interest or try to further their own gain.
Theirs is the earth.
That doesn't make any sense!
I thought it was the early bird that got the worm!
I thought it was the one who earned it!
The one with the can-do attitude.
The one with the work ethic.
Blessed are those who don't work toward their own interest, or rely on their own strength, or resist anything - be it injustice or injury - because it's all rooted somehow, in God's goodness.
They get the worm.
The earth.
(Earth worm?!)
No can-do attitude.
No early rising.
No one legging up.
No ahead of the pack getting.
There's enough, more than enough, the whole earth available for those not working to earn or capture it.
For those not bound to or grasping it.
And they don't just get it.
They inherit it.
Somehow indicating that maybe the worm was never really up for grabs.
The whole thing, the whole earth, belongs to someone, the Someone who will one day decide who gets what.
The criteria of which never seems to be a timecard.
So maybe, for now, the early bird gets his worm.
But the meek? They inherit the earth!
That sounds like something worth getting up for.
