Contemplation

Two Cups of Tea

As I considered what I might converse about with you this week, I recalled a book I read some years ago, Pocket Peace.  I leafed through it and was stopped in my tracks by this inquiry:

In what situations am I most likely to stray from my values?

Does anyone really want to go there?  Perhaps not.  Yet it seems important not to ignore such a question.

Confronted with this, I recognize that I am “most likely to stray from my values” when what I want seems more important to me than any other consideration.  On Memorial Day, a Monday, my day off, which also happened to be my birthday, the phone rang. It was a homeless fellow calling the pastor to see if I might offer some help with food.

One of the values I claim to hold is that everyone should have sufficient food to be healthy.  No one ever need go hungry, particularly in a world where so much wealth exists.  Yet I could feel the resentment:  It’s a holiday! It’s my day off!  It’s my birthday!  Of course, I did overcome that sensation to ensure that he had gift cards for the grocery store.  Yet it wouldn’t take a lot of contemplation to identify times when I haven’t overcome my resistance to doing the right thing.  Doing the right thing, and the growth that results, is the desired outcome of considering such a question.  Just as Robert Heinlein wrote: “Contemplation must bring forth right action in order to permit further growth.”

 The invitation is open to share “two cups of tea” anytime at Hope’s Café, or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.

May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” of Hope’s Café for each other and all those we encounter.  Shalom, Kate