It Could Be You

I had to make a mid-morning run to my daughter’s school to drop off an item she needed. {I swear, my kids are lucky I don’t work outside of my home!} I pulled out of my driveway onto the street, passing neighbors getting in their cars and dogs running loose. About a quarter mile up the street, I saw a squirrel lying still on the opposite side. I gawked for a second trying to figure out why it wasn’t running, only to realize it was dead. Freshly dead, apparently, with no signs of injury.

The same day, I went for an evening run and came upon the squirrel still lying in the street. By then, there were definite signs of injury as it must have been run over numerous times. At that point, it was a heap of fur and blood. I couldn’t really look directly at it. By the time I was next to it, I turned my head to avoid seeing the carnage and held my breath in case there was a smell.

Instantly, I thought of several situations I’ve recently encountered. People near or in ruin. Broken relationships. Addictions. Abandonment of faith.

We hear there’s trouble in paradise. We briefly glance at the injured. We might even gawk long enough to see if they’re still alive. But we don’t dare stop to lend a hand.

It may take a little while, but we eventually see or hear of the carnage. The injured, the hurting can no longer hide the messiness, and hearts are splattered, bleeding out. The gossip makes its way across town, through churches and into readily available, listening ears. The carnage is strewn far and wide, but no one dares to help clean it.

We certainly don’t want the stigma of such carnage attached to our spotless reputations. Our own hands might get a little messy if we reach in and wrap our arms around the broken and bleeding. And certainly our time is too important to wait around on situations to be tidy and neat again. And even if it doesn’t take a long time, we can’t trust that it won’t be messy again.

At most, we’ll offer our trite, Sunday-School answers as a solution, but when that doesn’t fix things, we go on our merry way, claiming the hurting and broken are beyond repair unless they see things our way…from our perspective…from those of us who’ve never really been in such a messy situation. After all, like the squirrel, they should’ve thought twice before they crossed into such dangerous territory. They should’ve known better…that there would be carnage.

So we keep to our pretty, packaged lives and turn a blind eye to anything and anyone that might resemble messiness.

Let me get real here. At any time, we could find ourselves in a similar circumstances. Not me…never, you say. And I reply, Oh, yes, you. Do you really think people ever intend to get themselves into situations that cause them to bleed out, to negatively affect the lives of almost everyone they know? Do you really believe it’s as simple as, They should’ve known better? You really might believe those thoughts. I used to as well. But let me share this with you, from my own experience: Nobody sets out to be so careless as to ruin their own lives. “Nobody” could end up being you.

You, pastor. You, Bible study leader. You, worship team member. You, women’s ministry leader. You, daily Bible reader. You, Sunday School member. You, regular church attender. You, theological expert.

You. Me.

Let’s offer grace…again and again. Let’s muster up some sympathy. Let’s be courageous enough to wrap our arms and our lives around those bleeding out. Let’s abandon our Sunday School answers, and sit silently with compassionate ears. Let’s love like we would want to be loved if we found ourselves amidst our own carnage. Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus.