Joy in Justice

Christmas
January 2, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 98

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
   let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
   to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with equity. –Psalm 98:7-9

My sister is a good seamstress and enjoys creating clothing. She inherited that gene from my mother, I am sure. Although females in my family had to learn the basics of sewing, I did not get that gene nor was I particularly good at sewing. I am pretty good at hemming pant legs, a skill made necessary from being shorter than the average American woman. My sister had the misfortune of being in the same age group as several girls whose mothers were active in the Home Demonstration Club from which most judges for 4-H clothing projects were drawn. I do not think any in my class had mothers from the Club.

Keep in mind this is the remembrance of a younger sister who did inherit her mother’s strong sense of justice. My sister would make her garment according to the rules, all by herself, and the results were always beautiful. I struggled to make the required garment, with my mother-judge looking over my shoulder requiring me to take seams out that were less than perfect and try, try again. I did do all the work, and my garments complied with all the rules. We would go to contest and my sister would never place in the top winners and I almost always would. For that reason, I quit 4-H in the eighth grade, yet my sister stayed in through high school. She apparently did not care as much about winning as she did about the joy of creating something good. Driving home from contests, my mother and sister had to listen to me gripe about my sister not winning while I was feeling guilty for winning. I made the right decision to get on the right path for me related to this small venture as did my sister.

I do not have a clue how God’s judgment is actualized; I do know it is just. I also now know that seeking God’s will for our lives, doing the very best we can to fulfill it, and finding life’s joys in our journey with God is what really matters regardless of the unequal justice we may experience in the world.

Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, guide us in doing your will and let your justice be our source of joy. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.