The Complexity of Being Human

“I always wanted to study psychology to understand and help my family with their mental health challenges, so I found a job as an outreach worker. I’ve betrayed God, but he continues to give me chances and opportunities. So I would like to create opportunities for people to have chances.” Paula realized that part of what Obie brought to his encounter with Ron was his own experience of vulnerability and grace. As they continued to speak, Obie also described how he brought other insights from his life experience into his work. A friend once told him that God doesn’t need us. God just loves us. This spoke to him. Obie burst out with joy. “This power, this intelligent design, this creator of worlds, God loves me even though he doesn't need me. Just because. I certainly haven't given God a fantastic reason for loving me. But God loves me and provided me an opportunity to get things right. So it’s just a powerful thing.” Paula nodded, smiling. She could see that for Obie, this undeserved love was good news for himself, Ron, and all of us. “None of us is perfect,” he said as he saw her smile. “I have learned to keep my own importance in perspective. I think one of the biggest mistakes I made early in this work was to look right away for a cure. Let me fix this person. But that's not my role. In this work, I am just a gardener. Your job is to plant the seed, sprinkle a little water, and look in on the garden every now and then to give a little care. It’s a small part of the work. It’s God that makes the garden grow.”

The complexity of being human is that we need each other to cope with the challenges of life; no person or thing exists in isolation. But when relationships are accompanied by abuse or neglect, they can cause extremely negative consequences for the person exposed to that trauma. And at the same time, that connectedness, if accompanied by empathy, compassion, responsiveness and caring relationships, can help cultivate safe spaces for our fellow humans to share their stories. It can help them to learn to trust and to cope with fear, anger and withdrawal. It can be the vehicle for individuals, congregations and broader communities to support others’ healing and growing in hope. “This power, this intelligent design, this creator of worlds, God loves me even though he doesn't need me. Just because. I certainly haven't given God a fantastic reason for loving me. But God loves me ...”