The cat is meowing, the sun is shining and the children are across the way, at the park, playing in the sand under the mango tree, excited as ever about the castles and rivers and other things they’ve been working on feverishly for several days now, excited that last night’s light rain hasn’t washed much away.
I’m under our porch with the April 10 reading from Listening to Your Life, passages from the collected writings of my writing hero, Frederick Buechner, one I will share today if for no other reason that if the children learn this above all else and if I can help them learn it in even a small way, in one way or another, then both they and I will do well.
Originally from his book The Faces of Jesus, the title of this little passage is Under a Delusion.
‘If the world is sane, the Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your business, and Jesus says, There is no such as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully – the life you save may be your own – and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who think he can follow him without being a little crazy too is labouring less under a cross than under a delusion.’