St. Francis or Dr. Laura? YOU Decide.

Blame it on NPR.  This morning, instead of sitting right down at the keyboard with a quiet mind, I put on a pot of coffee and turned on my NPR station.  I think that what I enjoy most is the friendly voices, women and men who listen, who inquire before they respond, and who give their guests a sense of their own importance.  I guess it’s their culture of respectful discourse that makes me want to spend time with them.   What I happened to hear was the apparent resignation of a loud voice on the radio.  And I was glad.

Deuteronomy Chapter 19: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose….”

Choice 1:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon:

where there is doubt, faith ;

where there is despair, hope

where there is darkness, light

where there is sadness, joy

O divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Choice 2: listen for yourself. (Be aware that racist language is included) 

There is a lot of flap about the racist nature
of the comments.  “Dr. Laura” says she’ll resign, complaining about her lack of freedom. 

Media hold before us two choices.  There are those who demand to be heard, who speak over those who are unfortunate enough to attempt discourse.  They are legion.  And there are those who enter the airwaves through the narrow gate – who listen, who learn, and invite us to join in learning too, by their example. 

I can see the Trinity now, in their workshop.  They observe the prototype speaking, listening.  “What if we give him two ears; maybe that will help?”  Ha!  I’ve always been too quick to speak, too slow to listen.  I need lots more ears to male me more like St. Francis’s prayer would suggest.  But I long ago stopped listening to this radio “Doctor” because she belittled her callers, talked over them, and disrespected them.  It literally hurt to her. 

But while I easily choose not to emulate her, I’m afraid that I can use a more constant reminder of the good advice of St. Francis.  Console.  Understand. Love.  Give.  Pardon.  Hooo, boy!  I’m gonna need more than ears for this…or a lot more grace.  But I’ve decided, in the light of this reminder from another too quick mouth, to try. 

I choose….LIFE

 FreeLemonadeStand by John J. Daniels is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.