Update #165: Restitution

“How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony!” Psalm 133:1

Tacoma Narrows, Tacoma, WA

Restitution - five years ago I wasn’t even acquainted with the word. In spring 2007 I was in a meeting where it was being discussed and defined through the conversation being held. I gleaned the word meant paying back, giving back, sacrificing for a wrong in order to make right. And, I didn’t think I had anything in my life I needed to pay restitution for.

I was wrong.

I am a native of the northwestern corner of the United States. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood, of predominately white families, but the local schools were a kettle of mixed races and ethnicity. You name it we had it – Asian, black, Hispanic, Jewish, African, eastern European, Russian, etc. My high school’s homecoming court was multi-ethnic; the student body representatives multi-racial. In my small corner of America, everyone got along with everyone else. My friends were a mix of ethnicity and most of the time I didn’t even notice that our skin colors were different - and I thought this was normal.

My thought patterns were challenged in 2007. I visited Cape Town, South Africa where restitution is not only a huge word but action. When asked about my own personal experience with restitution, I answered I didn’t really experience it until I had come to South Africa six months prior. In September I had travelled with a multi-racial team and I (as the fair skinned, tall, female) was looked at as wrong for keeping the company I was keeping (darn Asians and Sri Lankans). It was an eye opener for me. I had never experienced that kind of prejudice before.

The meetings facilitator probed deeper about where I was from. Seattle is known for its Native American roots – half the city and county names represent tribes and famous chieftains. The facilitator asked me about the Indians and how they were treated in my area. I started to describe the reservations, their location, conditions…and I stopped cold. I was describing a colder version of a township or African squatter camp.

I was stunned. How could I have been so blind? I had been surrounded by this my entire life and never recognized it. It gave me a new appreciation for the Afrikaners and what they must have struggled through in changing their mindset about their black/colored neighbors.

Indians, in my slanted view, were thought of as lazy drunkards who lived off the government. Unfortunately my viewpoint was only reinforced during my professional career. As a home health therapist I had Indian clientele – mostly on disability services. It was a very rare Indian patient willing to take initiative to better themselves after injury – they would rather have “do to me” therapy where I arrived with my electronic machine, special rubbing lotion and took their pain away for 20 minutes. Eventually, most were discharged due to lack of progress. It was depressing and I felt I was wasting my time. My viewpoint, although true to me and my experience, was slanted, narrow and wrong.

I think the white population in my hometown feels remorse about what their ancestors did to the Indians and that is why bills and grants keep getting passed providing continual aid and assistance.

The man at the meeting said steps toward restitution are twofold. One is a personal sense of repentance, a grievous heart understanding the original wrong and asking forgiveness for any part they or their family played. The second part is acting on the feeling in a way to restore the injured party. Again, I can appreciate the Afrikaners on the eve of Apartheid – I feel repentant but not quite restorative.

Where is restitution needed in your life? Are you like me and blind to an area right in your midst? Where is paying back, giving back, sacrificing for a wrong in order to make right need to be done? Is it person to person, group to group, church to church, business to business? Where are you on the restoration walkway – are you repentant, do you want to restore?

Updates:

Travel – Home Safe! We have had several people travel to our home office for our annual planning meeting – thanks Pete Stofle (Portland), Kim Wilson (LA), Thomas Stevenson (India), Kim Edwards (Marin), and others!

Personal – Made it back to the Bay Area and jumped right into our New Year’s Eve party and annual planning a few days later. It has been busy but fun with all my co-workers (except Rebecca) in one place.

Work – we are finishing our annual planning cycle today and move to implementation of what God said next week!

Requests:

Travel – None for me on the books for this month but several of my co-workers will be leaving and going all over the US. International travel starts later this spring. Please pray for invites to solidify, dates to be determined and for us to have the discernment to know which we are to accept and deny (and for me to know which ones have my name on them).

Personal – We were going through Critical Success Factors yesterday (for the business) and I discovered one of mine is a strict Sabbath. Now, to determine what does it look like? Is writing work? Is journaling a violation? Is being busy with friends wrong? Prayer while I wade those murky waters and to figure out what it means to me would be great.

Work – God has said a lot during our planning meeting (and we aren’t finished)! Now, what is for today (now) and what is for tomorrow (future). I put my name toward several items and need to form groups to assess how best to take the initiatives forward - prayer around these items would be appreciated.