Monday, June 22, 2020
Diane Harvey
Turn
When my brothers and I were growing up, we would often squabble over whose turn it was. Whose turn it was to sit by the windows in the back seat and not in the dreaded middle; whose turn it was not to have to wash and dry the dinner dishes. We especially squabbled over who got to be first at the dentist so we could then read the comic books uninterrupted in the waiting room, the only place we were allowed to read them.
But ‘turn’ is also a verb as well as a noun. It means to change one’s direction, to orient ourselves to following Jesus’ way. One of my favorite gospel stories that deals with the invitation to turn is found in Mark 10:17-22 where a rich man approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. As they talk together, Jesus invites the man to turn from clinging so tightly to his possessions, to sell them and then to follow him. Yet before Jesus challenges the man to change direction, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” Jesus didn’t judge the man; he didn’t condemn him; he accepted this seeker exactly as he was, and he loved him! Only then did Jesus challenge the man to reorient himself, to change.
I have always taken great comfort from the awareness and promise that it is from this place of unconditional love that Jesus meets us exactly where we are in our lives and in our struggles to grow and change. God meets us with love at every turn and invites our partnership. Surrounded and strengthened by such compassion, may you and I be empowered to orient ourselves in the ways God is calling - even if it that might mean letting go of squabbling over whose turn it is.