Thankful Thursday

Life is hard.  And life is sad.  And life doesn't always make sense.  Bad things happen to good people.  And I don't understand.  But I know my God is on his throne.  I don't always know the right words to say to those whose hearts are broken, and that breaks my heart.  But I know that even when I can't see God, he can see me.  And I know that when you can't feel him, he is still holding you.  When I feel as if my tears have no effect, I remember that each one of them is counted.  Today I am thankful for the God I cannot see, and cannot always hear, and don't always understand, because at least I know he is there.  And I know ALL WILL BE MADE RIGHT in its own time.

This song found its way into my head and heart today-about a month after 5 men just down the road lost their lives at the hands of terror,

two days after I taught my students about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,

and a man was killed in my city over gang "beef", 

one day after a reporter and cameraman were shot and killed on live television by a disgruntled former co-worker right in front of people they loved. 

The first line of each verse are the perfect words written and sung by Derek Webb in this song:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZgZD91T5-4  This music video is both truly chilling and truly moving and truly true.
And the words below each line are the ones written in my heart to the music.  This is the song my heart is singing.

People love you the most for the things you hate
          People KNOW you the most for the things you hate
And hate you for loving the things you can't keep straight
          And judge you for who you love, if you're straight or gay

People judge you on a curve
          Teachers are rated on a curve
And tell you you're getting what you deserve
          Based on the kids we teach and serve
 And this too shall be made right
           AND THIS, TOO, SHALL BE MADE RIGHT

Children cannot learn when children cannot eat
          It's hard to learn in class when you cannot eat
Stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
          Count them as absent but don't care where they sleep
Children dream of wishing wells
          They dream of families that treat them well
Who's waters quench all the fires of hell
          And love that can quench all the fires of hell
And this too shall be made right
          AND THIS, TOO, SHALL BE MADE RIGHT

 The earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
           The earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
Wars and abuses have nature growing with death
          Words of abuse have them all just waiting for death
You say we're just trying to stay alive
          Our kids are just trying to survive
 It looks so much more like a way to die
           In a world where they fight just to stay alive
 And this too shall be made right
          AND THIS, TOO, SHALL BE MADE RIGHT

Yes, there's a time for peace, there is a time for war
         There is a time to resist, and a time we should fight no more
 There's a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
          There's a time to forgive and to hate them no more
 A time for babies to lose their lives
          A time for brave souls to lay down their lives
 A time for hunger and genocide
          A time to fight on and a time to die
 And this too shall be made right
          AND THIS, TOO, SHALL BE MADE RIGHT

 Oh, I don't know the sufferings of people outside my front door
          I see the sufferings of those who walk in my class door

And I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore
          And I harden the hearts of the students I chose to ignore
 I'm trading peace for human life
          I'm trading comfort for human life
 And that's not just murder, it's suicide
          And that's not just failing, it's suicide
 And this too shall be made right
          AND THIS, TOO, SHALL BE MADE RIGHT


Ecclesiastes 3:
There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart. Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.