A few days ago we shared that, more than once, members of the A.R.E. team have felt a bit caught off guard – sometimes by a public and mean spirited attack and sometimes under the table and out of sight. That feeling of being a big juicy orange in a bowl full of lemons resonated with more than a few of you. If you are a change agent then you’ve probably had this experience, too.
Today the partners at A.R.E talked about this. Starting with time reading Matthew 6 from the Bible and talking about Jesus’ call to us to “not worry about tomorrow,” we spent time talking about some of the frustrations of the work we do and our own tendency to sometimes play it safe and try to not press too hard in a way that would cause more stress or struggle for other members of the team. We have all done it. Yes, all of us on the team have done it in some way in the last month and found ourselves in uncomfortable situations or even under attack.
In processing this we reminded each other that while we sometimes feel like an orange in a bowl of lemons (and from your responses to the article last week some of you feel that way too), we aren’t a lone orange but we have companions in this. In fact, the whole A.R.E. team and many of you we talk with and work with are often in situations where we (and you) feel like the single orange in the lemon bowl.
We sense that there is a movement afoot to change the world into a more loving, more sustainable, more life-giving and liveable place and that we are called and committed to help make it happen. Some of you are longing for and working for the same thing. Suddenly, the lone orange in a bowl of lemons may be among an entire bowl of oranges from a bushel of lemons. We are going to be more outspoken and clearer about the dream we see for the world in which we live and work.
We are ready to mobilize to change that world – even if it means living out our lives as oranges in a bowl of lemons. But we’d rather find ourselves in the midst of allies working and dreaming the same dreams. We believe there is a bowl out there waiting to be filled with oranges. Are you an orange or a lemon? It is only if you stay isolated in the little bowl of lemons around you that you will feel cut off and alone. Find allies and join together for both support and effectiveness. There is more out there than just a bunch of lemons. Oranges wanted!
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