Touch, pause, engage

One among many

I've mentioned personal headlines, memories of lines that grab us from time to time. We get caught in their headlights. We stop and ponder. Selah say the Psalms. Here's another personal one, drawn from scripture and from a film.

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.

and

"You are part of this world aren’t you?"

Engaged or separate?

This latter quote was said by Merry to Treebeard the Ent in the book Lord of the Rings. The Ents, an ancient race of tree herders, have deliberated over their part in an escalating war. Should they join in? They determine not to act quickly and to let things ride. The exasperated Hobbit Merry blurts out these words to avert their being carried off and away to safety by Treebeard. Am I part of this world or merely visiting, halfheartedly engaged with life on earth? I suspect an overemphasis on being a stranger, on distinction and separation, is part of the picture. Oddly enough the language of the rugby scrum is helping: Touch, pause, engage! Like the ‘cloud of witnesses’ to faith what headlines in your own journey have stopped you and continue to hold and surround you?