We’ve been writing our own headlines
By Gary D. Jones
Gary in South Africa with children of the Isibindi Project
During his final service as our rector, the Rev. Gary Jones made the following remarks. Many have asked to read them.
M
y dear friends, Heidi Schmidt and Monica Vega, are cherished spiritual counselors who have been like good shepherds to me through all sorts of trials and transitions, over many years. Recently, Heidi related a story that the Baptist clergyman Andy Stanley told in a time of personal frustration, and I found it helpful as I prepare for retirement. “Sometimes I just want it all to stop,” Andy Stanley said. “The pandemic and mask debates, the looting, and daily violence and brutality. The division and ugliness in everyday life. I can’t watch or read the news anymore. I lose my way. I become convinced that this seeming ‘new normal’ is now our real life.
“Then,” Stanley continues, “I met an 87-year-old who talked about living through polio, diphtheria, Vietnam protests, and all sorts of hardships, and yet he is still enchanted with life. “The elderly man seemed surprised when I said that 2020 must have been especially challenging for him. “‘No,’ he said slowly, looking me straight in the eyes. “I learned a long time ago not to see the world through the printed headlines. I see the world through the people who surround me. I see the world with the realization that actually, we love big. We love really big. “‘So,’ the 87-year-old went on, ‘I just choose to write my own headlines: Husband loves wife today….Family drops everything to come to Grandma’s bedside….”
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SEASONS OF THE SPIRIT
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Heidi Schmidt
Grateful beyond words
