Saturday, March 10, 2012

A PERSONAL TIPPING POINT

In his work, The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points that Saved the World, Chris Stewart looks at events that led to the Freedom that we, in the Western World at least, enjoy today. Many of them are heroic conflicts, such as the Battle of Britain, which turned the tide against the Nazis in WWII, and the fight to the death of the 300 Spartans against several hundred thousand Persians at Thermopylae or the Revolutionary War here in America. Interestingly, in these and many other examples that could be mentioned, though the odds were greatly against them (the German Luftwaffe coming against the RAF were considered the best in the world, the American irregulars were fighting the world's most powerful military force at the time), the force fighting for freedom prevailed, changing, as Mr. Stewart points out, the course of human history forever. In each of these cases, the underdogs believed in a particular quality that united them—for the Greeks, Courage, the British, Tenacity, for America, Freedom.

Recently I was reading Behind the Ice Curtain, the autobiography of a young Jewish girl, Dina Gabel, sent to Siberia with her sickly mother during WWII. At one point, she is carted off to prison to be questioned by the KGB. The Soviet Secret Service does there best to tear down Dina's resolve, holding her in solitary confinement, interrogating her in the middle of the night, confronting her with a long list of supposed offenses, enticing her with promises of better rations and pay should she turn informant. Choosing to fast rather than eat the choice foods they offer her to soften her will, the young lady outlasts and outwits her tormenters. This proves to be the tipping point in her own personal odyssey; things begin to gradually improve until her eventual return to her homeland.

Much could (and should) be said about the role of the Lord, in directing human events towards His desired ends. It is easy, especially these days, to see the hand of the enemy of our souls in hastening events towards his goals of death and destruction. But we should never forget that, ultimately, it is the Lord's plans that prevail. As the father of our nation, George Washington put it:

I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.

What is it, though that God actually does to tip the scales in favor of the few against the many. In it's fulness, the answer to this is surely a mystery, only to be known (perhaps) when we meet him face to face on That Day. A number of clues, however, seem to be present in each of these incidents as to the key to winning against all odds. Hope, surely. Perseverance. Courage.

I would like to focus specifically on one in this writing. It may not seem as “heavy” or important as those just mentioned. But I find it to be key none-the-less. There is perhaps no single English word that expresses it fully so let me describe it with several: Sincerity. Innocence. An absence of guile. Interestingly, this is the first character quality the Lord commends in one of his disciples (Jn 1:47). Many of us have heard sermons describing how sculptors stamped sincere (literally, without wax) on their works to certify that no wax was used to hide cracks or other mistakes in workmanship. i.e. the piece was wholly connected to and with itself.

I recently watched a touching youtube video of the program China's Got Talent, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Kwk_nK-Ds&feature=related) showing an Inner Mongolian young man, singing a song about how he dreamed of his mom. He had lost both parents in an accident. But he was choosing to focus on the good and move forward with life.

I believe that is the key to success against all odds. Are we wholly connected to our beliefs? Have they become part of us and we them? A facebook post proclaims that spirituality is about having one's mind, heart, and behavior in alignment. All of this is a choice, or rather a(n ongoing) series of choices that determine whether our foundation is solid or shifts like the sands.

When I was growing up in Arabia, the winds would blow the sands so much that tall dunes would cover the roadways overnight, making them impassable. Oil was sprayed along the sides of the main roads to prevent this. Sand storms (for protection against, the Bedouin wear their iconic headresses) stung one's face like a thousand needles, clouding vision and making progress difficult. Amazing how tiny grains light enough to be blown easily could cause such problems. It is because they are not attached to anything. They have no integrity. It is the oil of the Spirit which enables us to connect the various elements of our life and faith to present a solid whole.

One final point. What makes fine qualities in a person especially endearing is when the person him or herself doesn't draw attention to them. A case in point: Nawal El Moutawakel (anyone ever heard of her?! Neither had I until an reading a past issue of Success magazine. :-) ) Turns out she was the first Muslim woman to win a Gold Medal at the Olympics (1984, 400m hurdles), no mean feat in a culture that often makes women cover their entire bodies and only allows them to participate in sports during their childhoods, and then only after completing household chores. She says about her victory that day, that she, herself, didn't expect to win (she looked to both sides on crossing the finish line in surprise that no one was there!). Yet win she did, blazing a trail for 1/3 of the world's population of women to follow.

Are we connected to our beliefs? Have we allowed them to become part and parcel of who and what we are? My mother, growing up the child of missionary parents in India learned to love the often warm, Indian culture. My father used to tease her about how Indian she was in her thinking by saying that if you scratched her you would see brown skin underneath. If someone were to scratch the spiritual facade we all put forth, what would they find?

As part of my professional training, we had to prepare irregular pieces of gold for casting by melting them. We knew the gold was ready to be cast because it had lost its particular nooks and crannies and formed itself into a clear, quivering ball, held together by the purity of its bonds. True faith, because it is of such great worth, must always be tested by fire. May we all come through our time of testing as shining gold....

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