Day 58 – Broken Wings

I have been away from the blog for a while.  The press of preparing to be in the Philippines and El Salvador this summer, the demands of pastoral ministry, and the joys of two graduations in my family have filled the days to more than over-flowing.  I hope to get back into a regular rhythm of blogging each day, at least until I leave for the Philippines on June 20.  I am up to six miles several times a week – that in itself seemed impossible 58 days ago when I could not even run one mile.  My goal is to hit 7 miles on Saturday.

Running longer distances for me, (6 miles is a long distance in  my context), often involves a battle in my mind.  When I am present to my body, my surroundings, and just this moment, the run is not so difficult and at times even enjoyable.  However, when my mind starts focusing on how much further I have to run, it gets exhausting and feels overwhelming.  Learning to be present – that is the challenge in all of our life moments, isn’t it?  The wonderful thing about being present to the moment is that we see with new eyes things that normally don’t even register because our minds are focused elsewhere.  Yesterday as I was running, I noticed two doves sitting perfectly still in the grass along the path – a very unusual sight - so unusual that it made me stop for a closer look.  As I walked closer, I noticed that one of the bird’s wings was out-of-place, broken.  It couldn’t fly and must have been in pain. What was astounding was that the other bird sat perfectly still beside it, standing guard, accompanying its mate in this precarious dilemma.  (There is a cat that roams this area of my run – they were in grave danger.)  The other bird was perfectly healthy and could have easily flown out of harms way, but chose to stand with the injured one – to accompany it in its suffering.  The healthy bird could not fix the broken wing of its mate, but it could give it the comfort of presence and also try to ward off other attackers – like me.  When I got too close, the diversionary tactics started.  I ran home, got a box and a towel, and with the other bird doing its best to keep me at a distance, I gathered up the wounded bird and took it to the wildlife rehabilitation center.  

As I pondered the events of the morning , two thoughts struck me.  First, the image of these two birds was a profound image of the ministry of accompaniment into which we are called – to walk with others in their suffering as together we move toward hope for a better future.  We may not be able to fix it for them, but we can be a voice for the voiceless, a defender of the weak and marginalized, and an accompanying presence that says, “I am with you always, even to the end, and if need be, at the risk of my own life or my lifestyle as I know it.”  The second thought was this:  I took an hour and a half out of a very busy day that did not have an hour and a half to spare, for a helpless bird.  Why is it that we are not willing to take that much time to help our brothers and sisters who daily live at risk as they teeter on the edge of mere survival?        Where is our humanity?  As I was sharing the story of the bird with a friend, he jokingly said to me, “Diane, you interfered with the natural order of things – survival of the fittest – cats eat birds.”  I laughed and replied, ” I don’t believe in survival of the fittest!”  “Survival of the Fittest” may have some evolutionary relevance, but it does not reflect the gospel or even my understanding of what it means to be truly human.  The gospel says that all members of the community are important, especially the “least of these” – the weakest members are in fact a reflection of the God who took on human flesh and become incarnate among us, becoming weak for us that we might find our strength.  If we want to see Jesus today, we will find him in the world’s poor and marginalized.  If we are to preserve our humanity, we must include those at the margins by inviting them into the family circle as brothers and sisters for whom Christ died and give them the seats of honor.  I think it was Jon Sabrino, one of the two Jesuit priests who survived the massacre of the priests at the University of Central America in El Salvador because he was out of the country at the time,  who said, “If we are to be truly Christian, we must first be profoundly human.”

As members of the human family, I invite you into a ministry of accompaniment with those who are suffering and marginalized in El Salvador – run with me and them into a better future – a future of hope.  I am asking that you give one dollar a mile, for the 52 miles that I will run, and invite 10 friends to give the same .   Go to www.togetherinhope.org and click on Running Toward Hope – please help my new friends – the children of Mia Flores and the families of Perquin/Morazan.  If you can give more than a dollar a mile, we could use some larger contributions as well.    Our goal is to raise $150,000 and its going to take all of us to do it.  Run with me toward Hope.

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