Taize

[Beth Rankin]

Wed, 6 February
ASH WEDNESDAY
Jesus said: When you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your generosity is secret. And your Father, who sees all that is done in secret, will reward you.
Mt 6:1-6

 

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It's been busy and I will be away from the computer from Wednesday evening to Sunday evening because of a trip to Nashville, but Ed reminded me tonight at Mardi Gras that I had been slacking. *G*

 

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I think maybe we talked about giving before a month or so ago.  At that time I mentioned that I had been taught there were many levels of donation with the highest considered when someone gives, he or she has no idea who receives, and no one knows that the gift was made.

 

There have been times when I inadvertantly fell into that position in a way....some thing I saw that needed to be done, I got going and others took it over and got praised for the task.  The first time was when I was in the 9th grade and my junior high, in keeping with the times (late 60s), unfortunately, had a riot.  White versus Black with the Hispanic kids running back and forth, not knowing which side to take.  My parents had talked to my sisters and me quite a bit about how to stay out of trouble like this, so when the tension in the school got so palatable, I made sure I was safe in a locked classroom and stayed out of the way.  The school was shut down and no one knew when classes would resume.  There had been trouble at the high school also, and my dad, being president of the PTO, was in meeting after meeting.  I didn't like the idea of the old fogie adults once again telling us what needed to be done.  Wasn't that one of the reasons for the unrest?  So I called  a couple of kids from what had been my 7th grade class.  You know how you're very lucky if you have 2 handfuls of teachers in all the  years you went to school that REALLY taught you?  Well, Mrs. Umholtz not only taught us poetry and about the stock market etc etc, but she gave us a true sense of family.  So I called Artie Small and asked him to find 9 other Black kids who would be able to talk things thru; then I called Frank Lombardi and told him to find 8 other White kids.  My dad got us permission to meet at the high school and within 10 days, we had a list of grievances, plans on how to implement, and the school was back in session a week later.  BY then the student leadership infrastructure (the student council demigods) had taken over, and I was no longer invited nor allowed to participate.  They were on stage when the kdis came back to school and presented all the items "they" had won. 

Part of me very much wanted the pat on the back.  But another part of me knew I had done the real work, and the people who were important already knew.

 

So, yes, I think even now, it is very nice to have recognition when I do something that is nice or needed.  But a pat on the back is not always a reward, and the ability to just KNOW that it is KNOWN by God is really enough.

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