First you have to catch the camel. Good luck with that one. Camels can be testy and they spit. Next you need to give the camel a bath. Let me know how that works out. Camels stink. I mean really, really stink. They also are very large and bite. You must clean, card, and spin the camel's combed hair. Let me know how combing a camel's hair works too. It is not that easy. Then with a thread of your freshly, combed and spun camel's hair...thread the needle. Camel hair is coarse so you will need a fairly large sized needle. That would still prove difficult for me...even with 2.0 reading glasses I can not see the eye of a large needle.
Yesterday, the gospel reading points out that Jesus thought threading a needle with camel hair was easier than walking into the kindgom of God. Lots of people (far smarter than I), get hung up on where Jesus' analogy about the camel and the needle comes from. In fact, the original source for this analogy is Jesus. It is so often used the meaning is understood to be about the kingdom of God. It is often taught that there is a small gate in Jerusalem called the needle’s eye and that camels laden with goods had to get rid of their loads in order to fit through the gate. Nice image, but apparently it has no basis in fact. Others point out that in Aramaic, the word for camel and the word for rope are the same, probably because rope was made from camel’s hair. They say Jesus’ was really talking about threading a rope through a needle made for thread. Personally, I think Jesus had an incredible sense of humor and loved hyperbole.
But in the end the message is the same. When our possessions increase, we lose perspective. Having a lot of stuff tends to make me think I have to protect this stuff. I need to protect it from the weather, protect it from "theives", protect it from threat. Stuff also makes me think I have to display it. All the while, I am ignoring the Kingdom of God right in front of me. I don't think having stuff is wrong by any stretch of the means...I think where I tend to lose focus is in the protecting. I tend to forget that ALL is really a gift from God anyway...and it is ok if I have to give it back. I tend to think that "I" actually need to protect...things (stuff) like my pride...my time...my heart...and I tend to think I have to "show" of my stuff..."look what I did...." I tend to fall into the comparison trap...and all the while...the Kingdom passing me by...
And he reminded me again today...
He said, "I have seen the worst and the best that will ever be in America. America has already seen her prime and I saw it all." He farmed tobacco during the depression. He knew hunger. He knew great want...but was never in great need...He has always had everything he ever needed. He has been married 62 years. He has buried a daughter. He has been a brakeman for the railroad. He has owned land and seen that land become wealth for him, in a time when tobacco was wealth and farming was lucrative. He has seen a brother not come back from the war, while he landed in Japan the day before surrender was declared and came home in a month. He has earned a fortune, lost a fortune, earned more, lost more...and still he says..."I am rich and very, very blessed." He remembers the day he married and that his daddy and their friends just got together with some lumber and built a two room house where he and his bride lived...no running water...no electricity...and they were and still are happy. He says, " the secret to styaing married...just be ready to give more than you take...resolve your fights and always say you are sorry. Resolve to just love each other and don't run away..." He says, "young people today don't know how to do that. That don't know what it means to stick things out and to have to wait to have something. The first thing he ever bought on credit....."a bed and I didn't even have a refridgerator...that came later after I paid for the bed." Back then people really mattered...."you took time to visit and really get to know your neighbor. Nowadays we don't even know who lives behind us." Back then "you took care of your neighbor and everybody was your neighbor." Of course, he says..."this was before TV...before everyone had a car...when you went to Church every Sunday and you just had two pair of overalls...one for farming....one for church. Of course, he says we didn't even dream of or even know to think of texting...social networking...(we actually spoke face to face and had real conversations)...and telephone at our constant disposal...we never dreamed of such...I was 30 years old before we had a phone in our house. And then he said the wisest thing of all and it made me think of camels and needles....
"The more stuff we have, the more preoccupied we become with things other than God...I don't think God keeps rich people out of the kingdom of God. I just think they have lost sight of where it is..."
All is grace and may I never lose sight of where the kingdom of God is...
grateful for today...
camel hair
needles
farmers
grass that was green last week and will be brown by tomorrow
100 degree heat
fresh blueberries
dinner with friends a priceless, priceless treasure
wisdom of 90 year olds
iced cold water
laughter
seeing friends you only really see on social networks but today you hugged them and smiled
cathching up
visiting
never be too busy to just stop and talk...and really we never, ever are that busy...ever
open hearts
blue eyes
balsamic dressing that I could drink from a cup
field greens
hot, yeast rolls with butter dripping from the edges
pesto so green and so fresh you can smell the basil from 10 feet
ceiling fans
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