The news today is full of reports of politicians calling for a revamping of Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act, to be exact – did anyone refer to the Iraq war as Bushwar?). The first measurements of how it is working are being published, and as usual, politicians are jumping the gun to make immediate changes to a “bad” law.
This got me thinking about the culture of impatience that we have created. We never give anything time to work. Go on a diet, and if you don’t lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks (well, more like the first two minutes), the diet is a failure. Start an exercise program that doesn’t produce muscles right away, well, that’s all for that! A pain reliever had better “go to work” in minutes or it’s time for something different. Let a new television show fail to pick up an audience in the first two weeks it’s aired and it disappears forever, even before those few who liked it have gotten to know the characters. New movies get the same treatment, going to DVD or blu-ray after a couple of weeks of only making a few million dollars.
It never hurts us to stop and take stock of reality: and the reality of life is that change can be glacially slow. A rock can be worn down by little drops of water over thousands of years. It can also be broken apart in a matter of decades by tree roots. It has taken decades for the western lifestyle to degrade the environment to what has become catastrophic: incredibly immense storms rage across the planet, and no one seems to be able to put two and two together to equal anything more than “Duh, we don’t understand.” And since the changes that are being made will take years to make an impact, those against curbing our wasteful way of life will say, “Look, we did that, and nothing happened.” The rest of us will say, “Yep, you’re right,” and get back to business as usual.
Patience: God seems to have much more of it than we do. If we were in charge, hell would be full of the unrepentant, wrath would be regular and instantaneous, and there wouldn’t be anything left of creation from our constant rage at the evildoers failing to change.
I really wonder what the Affordable Care Act will be like in a couple of years, after everyone has seen whether it is going to help people as promised. That was the point, wasn’t it? Isn’t this supposed to help those who have not been able to get medical insurance now be able to afford it and maybe help their quality of life? I sure hope and pray we give it a chance to work. We really won’t know anything about its success until it begins to be used.
Like my diet book says: it took you years to get the weight on, it’s going to take some time to get it off. BE PATIENT!
I wish we’d all just be more patient. And I wish it would happen NOW!
About jamiebrame
Greetings, fellow earthlings. I'm the retired Program Director at Christmount, the national retreat, camp, and conference center of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Black Mountain, NC. From September 2019 through October, 2020, I served Timberlake Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lynchburg, VA, as interim minister. After taking more than a year off, First Christian Church (DoC), Wilson, NC, offered me the position of Interim Minister, beginning May 10, 2022.
Originally from Eden, NC, I graduated from John Motley Morehead High School, earned a BA in Religion and Philosophy at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), and eked out a Master of Divinity from the Divinity School at Duke University. I served, in various positions, churches (part time and full time) in North Carolina and Georgia, and have lived in Black Mountain, NC, since 1989. I married Renae in 1992 (she refers to these years as "looooooooooong" years.
I've spent the past 50 years or so trying to practice Christian contemplative prayer with some touches of Zen meditation to help the journey along. Married to a wife who is much holier than I am, I am fortunate to learn from her daily about how to do this thing called spirituality. Being an ordained minister doesn't make me holy (but occasionally, as you'll read, a little sanctimonious, so forgive me in advance!); but I hope that I put my education to good use.
I'd love to be considered a spiritual teacher, but I know myself too well to claim that. While I do a bit of teaching, I think the best teaching we do is when we remain silent (the old desert abba said something like, "if you won't learn from my silence, you won't learn from my talking"). But silence shouldn't turn into quietism, and we do have to speak out and act for justice and fairness and equality for all.
I frequently ask myself the question, "Does it matter?" about the major - and minor - issues of the day. What I think matters: love for God, equality, fairness, loving our neighbor, feeding hungry people, housing homeless ones, clothing naked ones, and especially caring for children; basically, caring for those who have some trouble caring for themselves. AND our relationship with God.
What doesn't matter: what you think of me. I'm not very Christ-like. You won't hear me talking about all the things I do for others, or all the things I do for God - I was taught that It's not about me, and using good works to get attention for myself isn't what Christian faith is about - look up "narcissism" on Google. I'm not sure Jesus thinks it matters much that I am like him or not, but I do. The old story from the rabbis is probably apropo: when I am hauled up before God at the end of time, God isn't going to ask me why I wasn't more like someone else: I will be asked why I wasn't more like me. The rabbis tell the story better.
I'm still a work in progress, as Renae will attest to.
Finally, I just hope that something you read here will make you think. Use what you can, ignore the rest. Go read some of the desert saints. Read the classics. Take care of people, never point to yourself, and don't follow me: I'm just hoping to be one more signpost to God.
And as one friend reminded me the week before I left Christmount, "It matters."
Oh, and my favorite color is probably blue, and I love cats, and I love my wife's music. I don't like beets.
Does It Matter 
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