“We have lost, I think, our proper sense of outrage, and what God does is often outrageous for no matter how much we think we know how God will act, God frequently acts in other incomprehensible and outrageous ways.”
—Br. James Koester, SSJE, in “Brother, Give Us a Word,” a daily email sent to friends and followers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, a religious order for men in the Episcopal/Anglican Church. www.ssje.org
joanna campbell
What is outrageous? Every sunrise and each sunset. The flowers and flowering plants and bushes and trees that appear in sequence in spring; the crocuses, camellias, redbuds, forsythia, daffodils, tulips, Bradford Pear trees, climbing wisteria, azaleas, roses, lilies, irises, magnolias, hydrangeas, geraniums, and finally the crape myrtle that last through the summer. Is there more? What about the yellow and red and orange autumn leaves on a crisp fall day? How about the secret waterfall that only you and a few friends and family know of? What about floating in the Buffalo River? Or the view from Petit Jean Mountain or Mount Magazine? What about Two Rivers Trail along the Arkansas River?
I am just listing wonders that occupy a small part of Arkansas; but I know each of you has many more outrageous spectacles to share.
I don’t know about you, but “outrageous” meets me at every turn. When we look for her, we have only words of gratitude. Outrageous describes our family members and friends who still love us even after getting to know us better. Even more outrageous is the unconditional love of God. This is love that God gives us in more ways than we can understand—knowledge too deep for words. As we try to stay connected to God and listen, we get little outrageous nudges, “not right; yes, this is right.” Whenever I go against those gut feelings, I end up in a bad place.
I look back on my life and see how cared for I have been, even when I went down wrong paths. This is outrageous. This is the off-the-scale love of God: to stick with us in our habit of taking one step forward, two steps back. We cannot comprehend such love. We can only try in our feeble way to observe it and remember it and give thanks for the outrageous love and beauty given us.
Let us know your “outrageous” and let me know if I can share it with the others in this group on the web site joannaseibert.com.
joanna . joannaseibert.com