Elena Reidy: Losing oneself on freeway of life

Lately I have been doing a lot of driving up and down the freeway. The freeway is a lot like our Western culture. It’s fast and efficient and helps people get where they want to go … that is unless something goes wrong!.

At times, we see cars that have broken down parked in the emergency lanes.
I recently drove past someone whose car had run out of petrol.
He’d obviously walked to get some and was now trying to cross the freeway to get back to his car.
However, with the amount of traffic going past, that seemed impossible. I wondered how long he would have to wait. Even if I’d wanted to stop to let him through, I couldn’t have because it would have been too dangerous and could have caused an accident.
So most of us are rushing around trying to fulfil our daily duties and as a result we are trapped in the rush of “freeway” life. We want what is best for our families and children and thus do what is socially expected of us.
But what happens when things go wrong and we “break down” – for example, we lose a job or a family member gets sick? What happens if we are born and live on the side of the freeway and never even get the opportunity to learn to drive?
Many of us are ‘driving’ so fast that we don’t even notice those who are marginalised – trapped on the sidelines. And even if we do notice we can easily convince ourselves that it is too risky to stop.
Yet the Gospel I read calls me to risk all for the sake of His Kingdom and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus into the pain and darkness of those who don’t fit in.  Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche – a Community for those with developmental disabilities – once said that many of us, when faced with a need, immediately ask ourselves, “What will it cost me if I do help?” Instead, he challenges, what we should be asking is, “ What will it cost them if I don’t?”
 As I write this, I find myself being tested in a difficult situation involving a family which is close to my heart. I get to the point where I wonder how much more I can take. But then I realise that it is this family which is truly suffering and my own discomfort, in comparison, is insignificant.
The Words of Jesus are so challenging when He says to us, so you’re nice to your friends and family, big deal, even non-believers do that! I call you to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate you and bless those who persecute you (Luke 6:32- 36). But most of us live in our carefully, socially structured neighbourhoods that without necessarily meaning to, keep us distant from the ocean of need that exists in our cities … me included!
Yet as I have entered more deeply lately into the lives of those who do live on the fringes of our society, I have been exposed to the reality of the “war” that so many live in …  especially so many children. There is constant fighting, abuse, mental illness, drugs and violence. I think to myself, if I lived in some of these neighbourhoods, how would I protect my children from it all? I don’t know how I could!
Am I at times revolted by what I see and hear and am exposed to? Yes definitely! Do I get angry and want to fight myself? Yes.
Do I experience despair and at times feel overwhelmed and want to run away from it all? Yes! And the truth is I could. I have the power to make choices ….  They don’t. That is true poverty …. When you can’t make choices.
As I look for someone to blame, someone to get angry with, I finally come back to the truth – that ultimately it is a spiritual battle that we are involved in – satan is the real enemy and not people.
It is difficult to forgive the man who took sexual advantage of a vulnerable friend. It is hard to forgive the four women who violently assaulted another friend in a prolonged attack.
It is challenging to accept the decision of the mother who, in her loneliness, allows her violent partner back into hers and her children’s lives. It hurts. It is hard to rise above the ugliness and at times, absolute viciousness, of this world …. And I’m only a ‘spectator’ so to speak! These precious people are entrapped in this war zone and are fighting to survive in the only way they know how.
But where are we, the Body of Christ? Are we keeping our distance in our safe churches and communities, scandalised by the “bad behaviour” of these others? Why is it that Christians are so often seen as judgemental, rather than as radical lovers who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of others?
It is time for radical discipleship. It is time for us to lay down our lives and lose them for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
His Heart must bleed for the pain and injustice He witnesses in our world. Yet He continues to challenge us, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink … Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25:40 – 42).
A well-known evangelist once said, “There is no overestimating the unimportance of almost everything”. We need to seriously seek God about His plans for our lives. We only have such a short time on this earth and I believe that there is a unique and God-given call for each and every one of us (Eph 2:10). With it will be a sense of peace that comes from fulfilling our own unique personal mission … whatever that may be.
I know I can come across as judgemental myself. If so, I apologise. It is not my intention to judge anyone … Only God is judge. But it is my desire to challenge in the same way that Jesus has challenged me.
 We are so imprisoned by fear! Instead, we need to be a people who are empowered by God’s love to overcome fear. As Scripture says, “Perfect love casts out all fear” (1 John 4:18).
 We need to be a people of prayer who build up our faith and release the power of God into our world through our prayer, fasting and radical discipleship. Let us follow in the footsteps of our Master and Saviour all the way to the cross in the confident knowledge that it is through the cross that we, and our world, will find resurrection and peace.
Many want to be part of a programme or ministry where they see success and change for the positive – so do I! But recently I was dwelling on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus who is so poor that dogs are licking his wounds. He died poor and presumably in misery. In worldly terms, he did not have a “happy ending”. It is only when he died that he went straight to heaven (Lk 16:19-31).
This offers us an eternal perspective on life that many do not see or think about. The call is for us to respond to the prompting of God’s Spirit, and to love in whatever way is needed.
The least we can do is walk beside those whose lives are in continuous pain and crisis and continue to try to shine God’s unconditional love and mercy into their realities.
Having said all this … I do recognise that without Jesus, I can do nothing (Jn 15:5) – that I must decrease and He must increase. That my human intentions alone, no matter how well–meaning, are useless unless I am guided and empowered by His Spirit.
Nothing can replace or compensate for a deep personal relationship with Jesus. The call is simply to die with Him on the cross and be born again of His Spirit so that, like St Paul, we can say, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me”(Gal 2:20). And this is not just for some “Saints” like Mary MacKillop and others whom the Church rightly upholds for us as models to imitate. I am referring to you and I, in the reality of our daily circumstances and life.
Whether we are cleaning toilets or leading a country, God has a divine plan and destiny for each one of us (Jer 29:11).
He wants us to become world-changers – instruments of His peace which bring His Kingdom into the world.
So many of us pray daily for, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matt 6:9-10).
 But, do we truly believe what we are praying for, do we mean it, do we pray in faith knowing that as we ask we shall receive?
I believe God wants to move much more powerfully in our world, to bring healing, deliverance and freedom through the power of His Spirit working in you and I. 
All He needs is a far, far deeper surrender on our part. It is as simple as, “Not my will, but Your will be done”.