9 - 12

Here we are, on the day after the day of remembrance. We experienced some of the unity of that horrific, hallowed time, but now Americans will retire to our respective corners and pick up the war of words and insults and recriminations we have been aiming at each other lately. Or we’ll sit cowering in that corner because there are still those who hate our nation and would happily blow bits of it to pieces again.

Maybe we’re back in the corner driven there by guilt (how many people haven’t reminded us that America doesn’t have a record, past or current, that is spotless) or despair (atrocity will never end and we are powerless to stop it.)

I have a suggestion.

Let’s make 9-12 a day to lean.

You’ve seen those 9 - 11 symbols, haven’t you? Where the 11 is made to look like the twin towers?

Look at the ‘2’ in 9 – 12. If you squint a bit, doesn’t it seem to be bending, bowing, or maybe leaning or inclining?

2 can remind us that, in spite of the bickering and hostility which divides our nation, when someone outside the family attacks us we are united.

We can bend a bit, if not with our ideals and opinions, at least with our rhetoric when we deal with our American brothers and sisters.

We can bow our heads in soul searching. No one has the power to bring World Peace. Everyone has the power to, if possible, live at peace with all. It doesn’t count to just keep our mouths shut if we can’t say something nice. We better dig for words of healing and encouragement and love.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, at the end of 9-12, we  realize that we lean on the ONE. The ONE who holds the world, its past and its future. The one who doesn’t let a sparrow or an airplane or a tower fall without knowledge and compassion and purpose.
We can lean on the ONE who can and will bring about world peace when He beats swords into plowshares. He is the same one who will honor our feeble efforts to treat all people with dignity.

The One who saves is also, incredibly, the One who takes the position of a yielding number 2 when He inclines His ear to hear the faint, helpless cries for help and mercy.

Praise God He brings us past a 9-11 into a 9-12.