Gleanings From A Higher Power

There is a charming 1000 BCE story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth, and her mother-in-law Orpah, were desperately trying to escape a devastating famine. They came to a farmer’s field of crops that had been left unharvested, providing food for the poor. The tradition is that Ruth met and ultimately married the kind farmer Boaz. Their son was Obed who was the father of Jesse and grandfather of King David of Old Testament fame. (Unfortunately, Biblical sources didn’t think to put in the names of the women in the family line.)

The practice of farmers sharing parcels of their crops for gleaning, was a charitable and pious act of social justice. It was a quiet and humble kindness, similar to people, today, leaving clothing and food vouchers out for the homeless.

These ancient acts of kindness stand in stark contrast with our country’s bankrupt moral philosophy which aggressively teaches that everyone should be decidedly self-interested and self-reliant. Unlike most other nations, we have become a culture that doesn’t cover healthcare and we normalize active shooter drills for our elementary children. We know that our elders can never afford to retire. We watch our young adults become strapped for life with crippling debt, unable to pay their college education loans. * Our American culture is a direct product of Ayn Rand’s survival of the fittest winner-take-all mindset. “The Virtue of Selfishness” mentality. It is a ruthless Social Darwinist scramble for money. It is our unrelenting try to amass power and money, vainly attempting to guarantee replacement of any potential loss. It should be no surprise that most of our kids are playing kill-or-be-killed video games.

Theologically, philosophically and existentially, we wonder where God is in all this. God seems irrelevant in this seemingly heartless “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” self-reliant culture.

Despite the nation’s moral wasteland, I suggest there is the Presence of a living and compassionate God. But to discover this Presence, we need to look for it in the right places. We’re not going to find evidence of our Higher Power on TV or Netflix nor amidst the deliberations and pronouncements of our current national political leaders. “So where to look?” you may ask.

I believe we will find the Presence of God in everyday acts of kindness. And where are the most obvious signposts of divine presence?

The Dalai Lama says “Kindness Is My Religion.” That’s clear and unambiguous

You’ll become aware of it whenever you see someone in need and another coming along and intervening to help that need. “If you do this to the least of these, you do it to me!” (Jesus). “Love God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself.” (ancient Jewish wisdom.)

Have our elected officials grasped this concept, judging by how they have treated the poor, the aged, the immigrants and those in the minority? The answer to this leaves America hanging in the balance and the future may be as bleak as what happened in Nazi Germany in the wake of the monstrous autocrat Adolph Hitler.

Instead, I suggest that we might watch for reversal of fortune. Look for acts of kindness where hungry people are fed, thirsty are given a drink and the homeless find a dwelling. Look for small acts of kindness.

Take our neighbor Karen.

Everyone in our apartment complex knows our available parking is profoundly limited. We struggle to squeeze our cars into our assigned parking spots in the back of the building. We anguish as we try to maneuver without scraping our cars through the narrow passageway. I keep a can of white spray paint in my trunk to paint over my self-inflicted scratches and dents. I’m on my third can.

But Karen, kindly, lets us park in her more accessible spot in front of the building whenever she travels for her job. It’s a modern version of gleaning. It is a small act of kindness that makes a large difference for us. Especially now that I have MS and will increasingly experience more physical challenges.

Is Karen an angel in human form? Yes, of course! But the point is not to tally up angel sightings. Being mindful of instances of human kindness, such as this, reinforces our consciences of Presence of God.

As each of us personally choose acts of kindness in our daily lives, we will be agents that make for reversals of fortune. Compassion causes transformations. Our small acts of kindness create healing relationships. They strengthen and build a sense of community and build a greater society.

I am grateful to Karen. She created a gleaning space for me. I think God walks with her. But don’t forget, each one of us has a Companion along on our own journeys.

See Omar Hague’s brilliant article “The Spectacular Failure of American Morality; How the Perverse Idea that Selfishness, Cruelty, and Greed are Good Fueled Collapse” (Medium, August 23, 2018)

Photo 1: Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie “Wall Street” as Gordon Gekko. Found in Omar Hague’s Medium, August 3, 2018 article already cited.

Photo 2: Philip Siddons photo of the t-shirt with the Buddhist quotation.

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