Terribly Human

I am not one to get involved in commenting on politics and politicians. Today, you cannot go anywhere and not hear reporters and everyone else having something to say about the untoward (and possibly) illegal behavior of the Governor of New York. On my car radio this morning, they were reporting from a green market in Brooklyn on what people on the street were saying. Because his image was so very clean and ethical, the news of his fall from grace seems to invite glee and delight. People revel in others failure. The governor is terribly human, publicly disgraced and folks can't get enough of it. There is an atmosphere of a tawdry circus and everyone is going on record with judgments.

Today, I am reminded just how human we all are, and how complicated and confusing it is to be so terribly human. Our desires and distractions daily collide with our faith and moral obligations. We know right from wrong in their simplicity, but none of us lives in a totally simple world. Being terribly human gets all of us in the end. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." We often don't make the right choices along this human journey, even when we have the best intentions. When the pressures of life, when illness and role encourage us to disassociate from our true selves, when fame, respect and glamor seduce us into believing we can do anything, when we fall so hard over known obstacles and addictions - it is then when we need the redeeming, transforming, forgiving love of God the most.

My prayers for this Lent have focused on "letting go and letting God." When I try to control my life completely and map my right course, this is often when I make my worst mistakes. My simple prayers of letting go help me to invite God's desire into my heart. God's desire is for us to love and forgive others as we have been forgiven, taking no pleasure when others fall. God's desire is for us to pour love, inclusion, hospitality and forgiveness on all we encounter. Letting God, for me, means taking no delight in the downfall of others. Letting God means giving up on judgment, and opening myself to radical forgiveness.

May we all be invited today, just for today, to let God - let God be the judge, let God be the one from whom our paths and decisions originate. We are all so terribly human and so desperately in need of God.