In the Circle

I listened to an icon of my day’s daughter.  When I was young Harry Chapin fought for the hungry.  He didn’t care why or how, he just believed it should not be.  His fears for the world knew no boundaries, color, or race.  His willingness to bring the issue to the attention of anyone around him, in every situation was relentless.  When he died in a car wreck on Long Island I thought one of the great voices responding to the call of hunger had vanished.
 
Decades later I listened to his daughter and I knew she was part of the same circle.  She now heads a foundation still fighting for the causes her father believed in.  Her voice and passion reflected her father yet it was all her own.  I found myself remember the mentors and fathers in my life, wondering if I was in the circle like Jen, taking the best of what they continue to stand for forward.
 
The question is relevant for all of us.  It is easy to forget, yet one of our fathers is God.  We may run, hide, and try to turn away, yet God is always in our corner, fighting for our restoration.  Our senses may not know of the Presence, yet the Presence remains.  God lives in your heart and mind.  Divinity passionately desires to be part of our circle. 
 
We may put limits, yet there are no God boundaries.  When God is sensed, “blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song.  Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert.  Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain.  Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly.”  (Isaiah 35.5-7)
 
You are I share a common heritage.  We have threads of God within us.  God is part of our mothers and fathers.  I want this experience – fully and completely.  Living out God’s values, reflecting God’s best, is a path.