"Some things just don't belong in a Morning."
Friday, I painted my best picture of Morning and This Morning, and compared the two things to the two worlds in which we occupy space simultaneously, which are the temporal, physical world and the eternal, spiritual world. They are different things, and not everyone believes in the second.
Pretty much everybody can get their mind around 'This Morning', but the scope of 'Morning' as a never ceasing, ever changing, constant, not only on earth but on every planet that orbits every star in the universe is too much for some. Therefore, the proposed analogy sounds like gibberish. I don't know how to address that, or even if I should. It seems self evident to 95% of the people on earth.
But I would like to talk about all of the things that are a part of 'This Morning' that don't fit in the realm of 'Morning'. For example, courage, compassion, loyalty, honor, respect and a thousand other things intuitively belong to Morning and This Morning alike. Morning refreshes and renews these things, and creates hope in people who embrace them.
But what about child abuse? How does the twelve year old whose drunk dad beat the shit out of him last night experience Morning? Even This Morning seems cruel. What about hunger? Consider the mom who is so hungry she can't produce milk for her baby that starved to death in her arms last night. How can she connect with Morning when even facing This Morning seems impossible?
It seems to me that there has been an ongoing discussion about this forever. And there are only two possible conclusions: The first is that the analogy is bullshit. There is no benevolent, loving God and no eternal, spiritual realm, and no hope in Morning and no value in virtue, and the twelve year old, the drunk dad, the starving mom and the dead baby are as meaningless as all of this talk about God.
The other conclusion is that each of us needs to equip ourselves and take up the task of bringing Morning to This Morning for a hurting world. We need to become soldiers of Morning and ambassadors of light in a dark world. We need to do something to help the mom, the baby, the kid and the drunk dad. We need to get our shit together and cast off the material things and empty ambitions that occupy us, and pay attention to and exploit opportunities to shine the light of Morning, the goodness of God, into that part of the temporal, physical world that intersects our lives.
In other words, we need to practice Christianity. Not in a religious, legalistic, judgmental way, but in a way that makes people's lives better. We need to spread the Good News about Morning, and the hope and renewal it represents. We need to help people connect with Morning and know that it is a gift from God as well as an invitation to live life on His level, in His shadow and be a part of His family.