[19 days 2go] Reflections on investment and mercies

With 19 days to go, I sat down today during service at City of Refuge and reflected on how I deal with preparation and with imperfection.  A seemingly weird combination of topics, I know.

This was sparked by, what else, the ongoing prepping of the motorcycle for this journey.  Earlier in the week, I dropped it off at a local shop to have what can not  be described, in my history with bikes, the most massive set of services, and a couple of upgrades done.  I picked it up yesterday morning, and the final bill blew me away.  The thought of having spent so much kept bothering me all day. Spending so much in preparation for a trip was something I thought I had already mentally prepared for, but it still felt extravagant.

It was not until later last night that I had a chance to sit down with Sandra and share my feelings with her.  While we conversed I realized that most of the work that was done, would have been necessary, regardless of whether or not I would be going on this adventure.  Tires were getting bald.  The suspension was bottoming out, oil needed to be changed. Valves needed to be adjusted.  It just happened to all come together at this time.  If taking care of this was important on a regular day, it was critical to take care of it ahead of a 10,000 mile trip.  Bottom line, maintenance is always of the essence.

A bit later I was thinking about the times when, for one reason or another, my motorcycle, or my car have gotten scratched.  At first it has seemed like a tragedy.  Like someone has stolen the beauty and glory from these vehicles.  Yes, I am that compulsive.  However, over time, the scratches get lost  in the bigger picture and the essence of the machines, the places we travel together, and the adventures ahead.

These thoughts were filtering though my mind at the prayer hour, when I was led to think about how these processes are mirrored in our relationships.  How often are we consciously investing in maintenance of our relationships and our spiritual lives?  How do we view such investments?  And, how often, when a scratch, or ding finds its way into this relationship, do we learn to see past it, and focus on the essence, the testimony of a shared history, and the promise of the adventures that stand ahead?  I know that my prayers were focused on learning to move into the latter a lot more quickly than I normally do.

At the risk of extending the analogy too far, I must also reflect on how we look at the oppressed, and the enslaved in our world.  Human trafficking and modern-day slavery are more than a scratch or a ding on the framework of humanity.  They represent a major problem in our world.  And yet, we move past. We ignore what stands in front of us like a gash and scream, and we shove it aside from our consciousness.  Sometimes because it is too painful to look at such evil in the eye. Sometimes because it is too inconvenient to confront it.  The repair aspect of it seems even more insurmountable.  But the fact is that human trafficking and slavery will not go away on its own.  It will only be wiped out the day we choose to not accept this as a fact of life.  It will disappear the day we invest in the poor, and the oppressed, and we stop pretending it is not there.

Every year, as I prepare for a trip like this one, my heart gets filled with hope, as I see the number of people who, regardless of faith and creed, feel move to act.  Today, I feel even more hopeful than I did 3 years ago, when I started out on this journey.  Today, I am thankful to you, who have made the choice to make a difference.