Job 21:5
Verse: Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Reflection: I’m learning how not to talk, to just be there beside someone. The compulsion is to say something, as if words will wash a problem away. Words can be very helpful, but I have to remind myself that it is OK not to have something to say. It’s hard to be comfortable with silence. It’s not something our culture is good at.
I may have missed it, but I don’t remember if any of Job’s friends saying they were sorry that this had happened to him.
Prayer: Help me to listen and not feel as if I have to fill the silence with words.
Job 20:19
Verse for he has crushed and abandoned the poor, he has seized a house he did not build.
Reflection: “he has seized a house he did not build” As I read this chapter this verse stuck out. It reminded me of an article about a family during world war II. They had been forced leave their home and when they finally were able to make it back another family had moved in and taken over. Their belongings had been dumped out back in a rubbish pile. Photos from albums lay in the dirt. The joy of finally getting near, just having to turn the corner and you were stopped at the steps and couldn’t even go inside. I have no inkling as to what it must feel like to be displaced, to have have no home. I have been blessed to always have a home and a mother and father that made me feel safe when I was younger.
Prayer :Thank you for letting me dwell in the places I have called home.
Job 19:2
Verse: How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words?
Reflection: Sometimes someone can say something to me and I can let it roll off and say thanks alot and other times the same person can say a similar thing and it cuts to the quick.This verse reminds me of a recent incident were a mother created an imaginary person on facebook. She pretended to be a boy that was interested in one of her daughters acquaintances. The make believe boy then preceded to say bad things about her and dump her. In her misery the girl killed herself. Now the woman is being held accountable. What an incredibly sad thing and it was all make believe.
Prayer: Help me to choose my words with wisdom
Job18:17
His memory perishes from the earth,
and he has no name in the street.
Reflection: This verse reminds me of about a writer who works for National Public Radio. A while ago he did interviews with homeless people and later included the stories in a book he’d written ( when I find out the exact information I’ll add it in). He had taken the book back to show the some of the men that he’d used their stories. One of the men responded ” Now I exist”. Someone had written about him, he would be real to others.
Prayer: Help me to be mindful, to make people feel heard and visible.
Job 17
Reflection: It is all so sad I may have to let this one go by until I can give more. I need more perspective on the book of Job. Although as I look at it again a part of verse 17:12 sticks out. ” The light they say is near the darkness” A black and white photo comes to mind of a baby reaching out for a beam of light. She is a child of a couple who were studying the people of the North Pole . She had been born during the endless nights and had never seen real light, only lamp light. As the weather improved, and the days became longer they could open things up a bit and the baby was delighted by the light which was new to her. If I find out more information I’ll add it later. Whew! glad a connection came to my mind that wasn’t depressing.
Prayer: Grateful thanks that I am not being tested like Job.
Job 16:18
O earth cover not my blood,
and let no cry find a resting place.
Reflection: “let no cry find a resting place” images of Chinese mothers come before my eyes. At one of their deepest moments of despair someone has taken a photo of them. I understand why people take the photos but I also feel it is such an invasion of that persons life. There is a fine line in bearing witness to what happens to others.
They woke up that morning, sent their children off to school and never saw them again. I didn’t think of it until later but these couples are restricted to one child as part of the countries need to control its’ population. I can’t imagine losing my child, to never touch her again. There is no cry that could ever alleviate that tearing apart.
Prayer: Thank you for this day. I got to talk with my daughter, I got to give her a hug.
Job 15: 2
Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
Reflection: I have to say that Job’s “friends” are starting to get to me. They seem to have a very high option of themselves. I know a younger fellow speaks up after they get done. I’ve held off reading what he had to say until I get through these chapters. I’m looking forward to his reaction. I hope I never get as full of myself as these men appear to be. I definitely hope I have more compassion for my friends.
Prayer: Help me to try to understand others
Job 14:7
For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
Reflection: Gardening has taught me so much. Patience, wonder at plants that survive the worst circumstances and joy. Seeing early evening light through fresh daffodils.
I knew nothing about gardening. My mom always had a beautiful garden but I never did any digging around. I’d help knock off the Japanese beetles from the roses but that was about it. When we moved to our first house I was such a novice that I went back to the garden center wondering why my plants weren’t doing well. Her first question, ” are you watering them?” oh, right…. My mother gave me so many plants from her garden. I’d come home from a visit to my parents with a trunk full of plants. Her presence is a gentle echo around the yard. Several years ago she passed away. It was hard, she was one of my best friends. One afternoon I was walking in the back and I was surprised by an iris growing with buds on it. the leaves had been growing for years but it hadn’t had blooms in a long time. I thought to myself if that is the bronze iris that she gave me so long ago my heart will burst. I covered it with netting so the deer wouldn’t harm it. I went up and checked each day. It was the bronze one, with five huge, gorgeous blooms right in time for my birthday.
I have a picture of myself on my 16th birthday about to cut the cake she’d made. The table was all set with a bouquet of irises, the bronze ones part of the group. Birthdays were simple but very special. She always made a homemade cake, whatever flavor we wanted. There were three of us and we always got a small present when it was the other ones’ birthday.
It’s Mothers Day so I’ve been thinking about her. I’m very grateful she was my mother. That bronze iris hasn’t bloomed since. But it doesn’t have to. It came when it was most needed, like a long, deep hug.
Prayer: Thank you
Job 13:5
Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom.
Reflection: I have been slowly learning that I don’t always have to respond when someone is talking with me. A nod is enough. Sometimes clarifying their thoughts is all a person can handle at the time. If they want my opinion they’ll ask for it. I do have to bite my tongue from time to time.
Prayer: Help me to grow as a listener. To focus on what people are saying and not allow my thoughts and reactions to intrude.
Job 12:10
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
reflection: I was thinking about this verse on my way to work. “and the breath of all mankind”, I’m guessing that about a third of all the people in the world are breathing in at the same time I am. Don’t know who they are or what they’re doing but we share this basic coming in and letting out of air. The people I share it with changes as the things we do change; sleep, running, laughing, crying. a constant band of breath between people sharing the same life rhythm.
It must be something to be an astronaut, to put your hand up to the porthole and see the earth in your palm. To be that far away and know you still share that same coming in and letting out.
My best friend from college died of cancer. It was throughout her body. Breathing was difficult for her, so she was always aware of it.
Prayer: Thank you for the ease with which I breath.
