It’s All I Have To Say!

George, at the age of 92  asked me one day if I had ever heard the song, “If I Have Wounded Any Soul Today.”  I told him I did know it and had listened to Marty Robbins and Mahalia Jackson’s rendition of the hymn for years.  George found the song meaningful as he reviewed his journey through the years, knowing that from time to time, he had wounded others, caused someone’s foot to go astray, walked his own willful way, uttered idle words, turned aside from want and pain, been perverse, hard and cold toward his neighbors and friends. Haven’t we all?  I doubt there is anyone who can claim immunity!  All there was to say to George is all that I can ever say to anyone, including myself.  We have all fallen short of humanness—and God forgives and loves us anyway!

It’s all I really have to say about anything and everything: God loves us anyway!  The answer to all of life’s complexities and riddles is found in the face of Jesus as I see him in the gospel and experience his presence in my journey.  It’s all there is to say to the man or woman fighting against cancer or some other crippling infirmity.  God loves us.  It’s all I’ll ever have to say to anybody burdened with painful memories or at the “end of his or her wits” standing in front of a blank wall with nowhere to turn.  God loves you!  It’s all I have to say when depression takes over, or the shadow of death steals in upon a beautiful life.  It’s all I have to say when the world goes mad again and begins to crucify and belittle others to allay its own fears.  God loves us!

In the face of Jesus, the love of God doesn’t seem to me to be a silly, unreasonable idea, trying to look good no matter how ugly the things are that happen; “it seems like Creation’s heart beating against my own,” and everyone else’s heart too, no matter what.   Love is at the heart of all things.  It’s all I have ever had to say and it is all I have to say now.  

Antelope Canyon--looking only at the surface.

Antelope Canyon--from within.