Dear Friends,
These are difficult times for
us all - I know it. The economy is in the
tank, clouds of war loom dark and scary, and, yes, our
memories of the horrors of September 11th remain
with us still today. Add in the Columbia disaster, the
Washington D.C.
snipers, and a series of child abductions, what you get is a
concoction so dark and dreadful that it seems that our only
proper response is despair.
I've seen plenty of tragedies in
the past, of course. I've even created a few of them
myself. Remember the flood from Noah's time? The Tower of
Babel? How about those plagues on Egypt? Yes, I've been
known to step into hellfire-and-brimstone mode in quite
unpredictable ways.
But nowadays, it's different.
Nowadays, I use other means to guide the world. I've
learned through the centuries that destruction and
devastation aren't nearly as ...instructional... as love and
compassion. I've learned not to
cause the
terrible events any longer, but instead to sit among you and
share your horror at them.
Oh, how I wish you people had
learned your own lessons along the way, too! For example, I
tried to teach you an important lesson back in Babel, but I
guess you didn't get the point. Back then, you people tried
to "build a tower whose top [could] reach to heaven" -
remember? I tried to show you then - and I
thought I was
being pretty clear - that human beings can't do things like
that. I guess I wasn't clear enough.
You see, I made you human beings
fallible. Finite. Often incapable of achieving everything
you would like. Yes, you are capable of dreaming big, big
dreams and of reaching great, lofty heights, but there are
limits. You can climb very high, but heaven will always be
higher.
Sadly, you seem to have
forgotten this lesson lately. You have forgotten your
limitations and you've believed that you can do it all. You
thought that the stock market would just continue to go up
and up and up, but soon it fell, just like that ancient
tower. Until September 11th, many of you
Americans felt invincible, as if the structures you built to
defend yourselves were so strong and impermeable that they
could protect you against any attack. You were wrong.
And for a long time now, you
have seen technology as a route to heaven, too. You created
fast computers to help you transcend time and space. You
formed vast communication networks that you hoped would
connect you, and destroy your isolation from one another.
You made sleek rocket ships, often naming them after "gods,"
and launched them upward atop great, thunderous clouds of
glory. Since you could put a man on the moon, you felt, you
could do anything and everything your hearts so desired.
And I'm afraid that here, too,
you were wrong. As you are now learning the hard way, DSL
and cable-modems notwithstanding, time and space are here to
stay; the more "wired" your communities become, the more
isolated you tend to feel; and while you can send people
into the sky, the sky is a place that isn't always very
heavenly at all. Indeed, a pillar of cloud and fire
recently propelled the Columbia away from the earth, and
another one threw it back, wreaking death and despair in the
process.
Again, I didn't cause the
devastation this time. You didn't either - at least not on
purpose. However, when you begin to think that the works of
your own hands can forever solve all of your problems - when
you think that you really
can build a
tower to reach heaven - then you finite, limited creatures,
set yourself up for trouble. Did you really think that the
stock market would rise forever? That the U.S. would always
be invincible to attack? That every spacecraft would always
land safely?
My friends, you are human. You
are fallible. That's the way I made you, and I did so on
purpose. I no longer destroy the structures you build.
They eventually fall because all human creations must.
Long ago, I used to bring
plagues and devastation. Nowadays, I weep along with you
over these tragedies. I grieve to see you in pain, for you
are my most prized creations.
And here...perhaps...is a clue
to some of the greatness that you actually
can achieve.
For when you respond to life's tragedies - or to its joys -
from within the fullness of your humanity, then you truly do
reach great heights. When you shed tears of sadness or joy;
when you hate evil, love good, and work to improve the
world; when you reach out to others with care and
compassion, then you fulfill my great hopes for you, and
prove yourselves worthy of entering my heavenly realm. And
isn't that what you've been working for all along?
Sadly, the works of your hands
will never solve all of your problems. But remember, the
deeds that emerge into the world from deep within your mind
and heart can often help you reach heaven. And sometimes, I
should add, these sacred acts can lead you even higher.
With Love and Hope,
God
