Obviously the book is entitled “Jonah.” Everything is about Jonah. And clearly upon perusing the story the reader will find that all Jonah ever thought about was Jonah. I wonder how the story would look if the book had been entitled “Everyone Else.” I read up to Jonah getting thrown into the water yesterday. I couldn’t help but wonder how big that storm was. The story is about Jonah so it seems God would have caused a storm to form around him. But our actions affect everyone around us and a great number of people we wouldn’t have ever realized. Could that storm have damaged homes onshore somewhere? Could it have sunk smaller boats in the general vicinity? Yeah it scared the people on board Jonah’s boat; caused them to throw overboard all their cargo and plead with their gods, but how much additional damage was caused by the great storm… we’ll never know.
Jonah apparently didn’t stop to think about all the lives he’d affect by fleeing instead of going. In SO many ways all throughout every single day spiritually and very unspiritually we face the same issue. Especially in this consumer based society we live in. Think about the clothing made in Vietnam (just to name a place) you purchased %50 off for $3 the other day. That retailer was able to sell it for $3 because that’s about how much the hands that made it saw during that entire month it was manufactured. What about the chicken we ate for dinner, that we didn’t raise ourselves, didn’t take good care of and provide a humane life for. Think about the horrendous inhumane chemical exposed life it lived before you ate it. I know I don’t want to think about it either. Then there’s the cashier who works for a company that they’re not entirely fond of either who upset you because of the company they work for who you got upset with and mistreated. It’s a vicious cycle but it’s all about ME. I suppose I could go on and on and on but this paragraph is already getting really annoying.
As of right now after 30 years of living my book would definitely be entitled, “Michal.” I suppose there’d be a few chapters highlighting another’s name but overall these 30 years have been about me. I don’t want to be like Jonah. I don’t want to cause storms to arise that wreak havoc in the lives of others. I don’t want to be so focused on me that I’m oblivious to what’s going on around me. I don’t want to make decision after decision based on self centeredness (and luxury) and completely overlook the life that’s happening all around me. I’d rather arise and go. I’d rather turn my eyes towards others, stop focusing on this fragile body I inhabit, and affect the world I live in positively with awareness and vision.
I think next year’s blog might be entitled, “How I stopped exploiting impoverished workers all over this planet, stopped abusing helpless animals, stopped wasting time on my every fleeting desire and overall consuming laziness, stopped living for myself and started seeing the storm that’s formed all around me.”
'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds… who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them." Ezk 34:2-4, 10
No comments:
Post a Comment