Have you ever read The Giver by Lois Lowry? If yes, then you were probably a product of the American public school system at some point in the 1990s. If not, then go get a copy at your local library. The Book it! stickers and Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas may no longer exist as rewards and you probably can’t buy it through Scholastic book fairs but it is readable in one sitting. I’m a sucker for all forms of artistic utopia and even dystopia irrespective of trite story lines and analogous themes. Think of The Giver as a PG version of George Orwell’s 1984 – which happens to be one of my favorite novels. Jonas, the protagonist, is selected to be the new “Receiver” of a society where individuals have no knowledge or exercise of love or pain. Daily movements, jobs, interactions and information are all tightly controlled. The Elders of the society recognize the importance of understanding the outside world and past generations by placing the memories of humankind upon one individual: the Receiver. He provides wisdom and advice to those with no knowledge of war, love, freedom, or suffering as he draws upon memories the elders have no knowledge of. The current Receiver begins to train Jonas for the role by transmitting to him all of his memories by placing his hand on his back. Remember, it is a children’s novel! While the official title given by the society is The Receiver, Jonas begins to call him The Giver. The Receiver thus becomes The Giver of memories to Jonas. To spoil the story for you, the pain and suffering that is revealed to Jonas through the giving of humanity’s memories becomes overwhelming. His new awareness of the world around him causes him to inspect his own community. He decides that he would rather reside in a society with freedom and the potential of pain and suffering than be in isolation and safety. His awareness leads to action - going AWOL. His action leads to advocating – sharing his knowledge with other members of the community. However, when he was just a member of society and before his awareness, he was just ignorant. Before his action, he was just informed. And before his advocacy, he was just intrepid.

A good deal can be gleaned from Jonas’ experience. In the face of need, we all give. Some of us give money. Some of us give time. Some of us give sympathy. Some of us give apathy. And an ever small portion of us give of our entire selves. I believe that if ignorance is bliss then awareness is binding. Ignorance generates a good amount of attention while awareness for some reason generates little action. Enveloped by information, there is very little that happens in the world that we do not have the ability to learn about. Thus, many of us are quite informed of the nefarious actions and conditions of humanity. An American unaware of the existence of poverty or HIV/AIDS would be shocking. An American aware of these ills and not taking action? That would be status quo.

My coworker came in this week visibly shaken. It has been difficult to anticipate her state of emotions these past few months as she has been working her way through an unfortunate divorce. However, this morning the culprit was different. She explained that as she sat down on the Metro, she felt the man next to hear reach back. At first she thought he was simply reaching for his wallet. She quickly realized that the man was groping her. Embarrassed, she immediately stood up in shock and the perpetrator walked to another part of the train. A male passenger had witnessed the whole thing and said to her, “that was really awkward, I’m sorry”. She stared in even more disbelief that the passenger had not done or said anything. As she relayed the story to me, I was shocked that the passenger hadn’t done anything either! He was aware of what was happening but chose not to take action. My coworker expected and needed action against the problem, not awareness that it was happening.

I like the saying that they won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

I pray and aspire to not stop at awareness and be like Jonas.

I screwed up recently. I didn’t do something that I clearly should have done. I blame Bruce Wilkinson and his book You Were Born for This: The Seven Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles. Now, it should be known that I don’t normally partake in books with titles that could be mistaken for the latest Joel Osteen bestseller. However, as a Christian, as someone who believes in miracles, and as someone who would like to give and receive more miracles, I downloaded it. (Thank you DC Public Library and your partnership with Amazon) The book itself is a simple and short read - much like that of his (in)famous Prayer of Jabez. Wilkinson makes the case of asking God to use you to carry out small miracles on a daily basis. This sounded great to me so I gave it a try.

After opening up my morning with some Bible reading and prayer, I asked that I could be a part of a small miracle for someone and headed off to work. I ride my bike to the Metro and have enjoyed the lack of extremely cold mornings until last Monday (December 12^th). Upon arriving at the Metro, I simply wanted to get to the platform as soon as possible. I hurriedly attempted to lock my bike and then felt something inside of me say, “Here comes your miracle”. I turned around and a lady asked me if I had one dollar or two. I told her I didn’t and went back to finishing up my chain and U lock. As she asked others around me, I approached her and asked if there was something specific she needed. She indicated a bus ticket. I said “sorry” again and went up to the platform. As I walked away, I felt the convicting voice say, “That was your miracle”. I tried to ignore that and the fact that I actually did have cash on me. It all became too much to go to work on so I decided to head back outside of the station and find her. As I came out of the Metro station, however, she was nowhere to be found. I had my chance to a part of a small miracle and I blew it because the opportunity interrupted and surprised me.

I used to be a lot more of an impulsive person. After five and a half years of marriage, becoming a father, living in a high context culture, and two degrees later, I’ve become somewhat more calculated in my decisions. While much wisdom is derived from methodical decision making practices (Proverbs 19:2), one can over think a decision or a response  like I did in the moment. Impulsive decisions shouldn’t be labeled as wholly detrimental. Rather, they should reveal the degree and speed to which you are able to discern opportunity to missed opportunity. My character just revealed the incorrect impulse. Mark Batterson said, “intellectual analysis usually results in spiritual paralysis.” Likewise, “responsible irresponsibility” has the potential to take over in moments like these. I was being responsible in desiring to get out of the cold keep myself healthy and get to work on time. Out of this sense of responsibility, I was irresponsible with my time and resources that God has given me.

I encourage you to look for a miracle in your life in this final week before Christmas. If you come across someone in need and ask God how He could allow such a thing, He may be asking you the same question.