Rosa Parks & Stewardship
10/18/11
“The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.”
Niels Bohr
How do we know what is our responsibility versus God’s?
I think we can see a great example of this in the life of Rosa Parks.
Sewing, church, and civil rights meetings. Those were the main activities of Rosa Park’s life. For the first four decades of her life, she modeled stewardship:
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| Rosa Parks, 1955 |
Sewing- it was a skill that put food on the table.
Church- spending time with her Lord and community.
Civil Rights- her heart’s desire for justice. Ten years before the infamous bus incident, she was living her life, doing her thing, and in the midst of that, experienced rude and unacceptable behavior of a certain bus driver. In her heart, she made a commitment to never ride his bus again.
Her goal in life was not to be famous but to be faithful. Integrity marked her words and her actions. When they were in the process of figuring out what would be the best method for bringing justice and equality, she wasn’t looking for a fight or to be "the" person in the spotlight. As I listen to her story, I hear the principles that framed her decisions just as the banks of a river will determine its course. She lived the well prepared life of a good steward and look at the outcome.
Many times I worry about am I fulfilling God’s call on my life. Am I living to my full potential? I look around and see so many others “doing” so many great things to impact others, and I compare myself them and look at the drudgery of my stewardship. I am regularly haunted by the thought I may have missed the opportunity God has for me.
But in the example of Rosa Parks I see the grace of the tension of our role and God’s responsibility. We are called to be faithful stewards. Faithful to the talents we have been given. And He is faithful to arrange our circumstances to ignite or not what He wants to accomplish through our lives.
Rosa Parks wasn’t looking to stage an act of disobedience that evening. Even months later, she and the people around her were not even looking to de-segregate the entire bussing system; they just wanted to be allowed to sit in the middle of the bus. But God had so much more for her than she even realized. That fateful night, she was tired from working hard but she was faithful to expanding the picture of what true, healthy, reconciled Christian community could be like. She was also tired of the day-to-day injustice she saw and experienced and then she happened to get on the bus of that rude driver from 10 years ago, who, well…. hadn’t really changed. She stayed true to who she was and God ignited the rest.
A few weeks ago while eating at Ollie’s Noodles in NYC, I read my fortune cookie at the end of dinner. It said "the prepared speaker is the only one who can be confident." My role is to be faithful and to prepare. God’s role is to set up the circumstance of my life so that faithfulness can shine where He sees fits. As a flower blooms wherever it is planted, so must I be faithful whether I bloom in the hidden field for only God’s delight or in the arboretum for everyone to see. Be faithful and steward what He gives you.
Then let Him do the rest.
Blessings,
Wendy
Blessings,
Wendy
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