The Word was made flesh and pitched his tent among us. - John 1:14. What greater demonstration of faithful belief and love than this?
We like to think of all the spaces of love, kindness and creativity that fill us with joy and a sense of well-being about where He is - with the meditator, the grateful, the happy in heart, the creator of beauty, the gardener - the ones who seek Him and reflect Him.
But there are other places where He pitches His tent, places where love, beauty, kindness, and peace are hard to find but much in need. That is where He goes.
He stands in line at the mission waiting for food, his meal for the day.
He holds the head of a runaway cradling her in sleep.
He pitches his tent in the middle of all the other tents gathered beneath the bridge and huddles by the fire.
He hunkers down low in the alley beside several bottles and a gang member as a bullet whizzes by.
He is there in the thicket, on the battlefield as humanity tear each other apart.
He stands in intensive care where a family sobbing gather around the one whose life is slipping away.
He sits with the homebound patiently and unhurried, no other place He'd rather be.
He pitches his tent in the midst of the rubble after a horrific hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake and every bombing. He is found there in the middle of it all.
And, He takes his place at the dinner table where mother and daughter bicker bitterly wounding and hurting each other one more time.
In every world event, community conflict and individual pressure of day-to-day problems, He is there. There living among us, offering presence, aid, help, love, kindness and hope.
And He asks us to be and do the same: to pitch our tent, take our place and stand or huddle or hug or bow down low, whatever is needed, to offer kindness, hope, healing and love.
