"8:41"

Isaiah 58:6-7

Miss Havisham, from Dickens’ novel, “Great Expectations,” receives a letter at 8:40 am on her wedding day saying her soon-to-be husband decided to cancel the marriage. At that point she stopped all the clocks at the very moment the letter arrived. She spent the rest of her life in her wedding gown, wearing only one shoe because she hadn't put the other one on when the news came. That moment defined the rest of her life; everything in her universe stood still.

I’m thankful for the village of people who have helped me walk through painful moments in my past and present in a healthy manner. They were instrumental in my journey from 8:40 to 8:41. My heart still has areas where I have yet to move forward though. Years go by when I might only move a second closer to my goal; but as painstakingly slow as it is, I’ll take it. 

On a global scale it’s easy to think that everything is stuck at 8:40. Where are we on the timeline of racial, gender, and economic equality? How about climate change, poverty, the refugee crisis, mental health and a thousand other examples? 

I am grateful for the millions of people who have moved the clock seconds closer to 8:41:  from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, to those behind the scenes serving their communities in a myriad of ways through their grass roots grace. May our lives thirst for making all things right.