Leave Me Alone

I come to the garden alone, 

While the dew is still on the roses, 

And the voice I hear falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses...

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

He speaks and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that he gave to me,
Within my heart is ringing . . .

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other, has ever, known!

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other, has ever, known!

"In the Garden" by C. Austin Miles, 1912

********

Dear Kate,

What is the best thing a friend can do for you?

If you know the answer you would also know for sure the doer is your friend, your true "neighbor."

Do you call your child your "friend'?  I don't mine.  Not that they are not (at least sometimes) friendly to me.  Not that they don't know how to make friends (they do, and better than I did in my teens).  But they are not doing for me what I think only a true friend could and would.

Are you surprised if I am to tell you they don't care enough about my liberty, the best thing a friend can do for you?  (Maybe one day they will, I won't fault them if they never would.)

You must have heard about the two sorts of liberty, the sort that chiefly seeks to be left alone ("negative liberty"), asking for minimal interference from the authorities, and the sort to direct people to the fulfilment of ideals ("positive liberty"), ushering in a better tomorrow individually and together, if we can all see the same liberating vision and jump into the common bandwagon of progress.

Have you been a friend to your child?  If you do care about her liberty, are a true cheerleader in her life, which sort of liberty have you been putting a stronger emphasis on?  And would you be surprised, again, if I am to tell you, a true friend is one who would leave you alone?

I can see you shaking your head now, for how can a parent not want the best for her children and make sure they would want it too?  It is against our instinct, an affront to our good human sense.  How can people be "left alone" and assumed to do good all by themselves?

It will probably take the space of a book or two for me to articulate what I am getting at here.  For now let me stand with you in solidarity to acknowledge, yes, it is about the hardest piece of truth for this parent to swallow.

But that's not even you, I can hear you say, Alex! You are totally a positive liberator!  And you are right.  I am not a good friend to my children.  I have not been a good friend to most of my friends most of my life.  If not for Jesus, I don't see a reason to struggle daily to change--in fact, I wouldn't know there needs to be a change at all.

Take a look at Jesus, our liberator, redeemer, our true friend.  How did He do it, to set us free?  He too offers us a bandwagon to jump in, one that is made of common wood, on which he hanged.  Was he passive or passive-aggressive in his liberating way?  Did He not know better that to ask His Father to "at once put at (His) disposal more than twelve legions of angels" had to be a much better way for Him to end things and set the world right, for our very best good?  Was He being weak, indulgent, too care-less, to have let us be, left us alone in our death-seeking way?  What is the way of Jesus the Way?

How many questions have I asked you so far?

Christianity is an inquiring faith that appeals for universal, open-hearted dialogue in search of the Way, the Truth, the Life.  People with genuine interest to engage in such conversation are true friends to each other, for they care deeply, however imperfectly, the longing for trust, hope, and love in the other person that rather mysteriously speaks about the longing of their own.  They don't declare easy victories like politicians and advertisers do, not about their own life or any earthly enterprise.  They are deeply aware of the moral fallenness of human beings, especially that of their own and, as such, live in humble obedience rather than conceited exaltation, even as they walk on the bright path of promise.  Their business is in cultivating a good soil, expanding the sphere of a playground, where everyone can freely choose to walk with God and talk with God.

So you can say such "negative" liberty is really a paradox.  To clear a field for Christ to play is as concrete and affirming as anything a person can endeavor--and most specific too.

Let me end with an example.  My dog sheds, all day, everyday.  I vacuum everyday, sometimes more than once a day, which feels like all day.  My kids don't help, and I don't expect that to change.  I can feel hopeless about it, not the shedding, but their not helping, and, quite reasonably, disappointed.  For the longest time I would encourage my kids to jump into the bandwagon of being a true good master to our most beloved dog and put our love in action.  I asked them to be enchanted by the same glorious vision of being a responsible, honest, and hardworking Homo sapiens.  Their answer, day after day, to my heavenly call, made me believe in hell.  Ideal shattered, I was left with my bitterness.

Do they not know how burdened I am with work and everything, literally, around the house?  If they do truly care about my liberty to pursue truth, would they not offer to share my burden, give me a bigger field to play a little more, enjoy life a little better, be a little child in God's garden, do for me a little what I am doing for them, building a safe and flourishing home, so that they can be "left alone" to pursue faith, love, and hope?

They have not done enough to "leave me alone." 

Yours, Alex