The Injustice of Just

A careless word that changed my mind

Every life has a handful of regretful moments, cringe-worthy in their recollection, even decades later.

At least that is my half-proven hunch, and if you're the type of person who walks around proclaiming that you have no regrets from the dust-filled days you've spent walking this planet, then congratulations to you but I have never believed that stance for a second.

Were you never 22 years old and blindingly sure of yourself and your understanding of everything? That, for example, when your boyfriend’s mother might ask, while winding through Minnesota's northwoods on a summer afternoon, what your own mother did for a living, you would never have dreamed to chirp in happy, thoughtless, idiotic response, "Oh, she was just at home with us!"

Just at home with us.

If you have no such regrets from your starry-eyed youth, then allow me to paint a portrait of the moment when your future mother-in-law, in one fleeting flawless instant, would manage to continue driving the car forward AND turn to give you the raised eyebrows you deserve AND set you straight by reminding you of the basic holy truth you had forgotten (with all your newly-minted-degree, ready-to-save-the-world, endearing-yet-clueless, 22-years-young confidence and certainty). 

Which is to say that she would declare in no uncertain terms: 

"Laura. Your mother wasn't 'just at home with all of you.'"

To which of course, you would back-pedal, charmingly, scrambling, assuring her that yes, well, absolutely, that's not what you meant, definitely not — but still. 

It was what you said. Casual and cutting.

Just.

Just a lifetime devoted to raising five whole humans into this vast and daunting world. Just decades poured into the nurture and development and education and formation of minds, hearts, and souls. Just the entire gift of self in love, without reservation.

Just all of that.

//

Here is a certain truth I have learned about calling, after a decade spent working on vocation. Every single one of us underestimates the goodness and power and impact of our own calling.

I’m just a mom. I’m just a teacher. I’m just a nurse. I’m just a musician, just a cook, just a janitor, just a banker, just a volunteer.

Has there ever been a more unjust word?

I’ve heard these “justs” a thousand times from people in all walks of life, brushing off the fact that they (and others) are shaping human lives in ordinary but lasting ways every day.

We forget there is no such thing as “just” in the Kingdom of God. Because in the Kingdom, what reigns is justice. 

Here is the dignity of the human person. 

Here is where the first are last and the least are greatest. 

Here is where we will be judged not on our resumes, bank accounts, eulogies or legacies, but on the smallest acts of love: how we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and gave a cold drink of water to the least of these. 

Do not underestimate your own worth or the impact of your time here. Do not miss the potential and power of other people's humble or hidden dedication to their lives, loves, and work, too.

Justice is our calling, not "just."

//

I've never forgotten that foolish moment when I learned the burn of a careless word.

I barely had the language for calling back then, but I have learned it in leaps and bounds since — from theology, from ministry, from motherhood itself. My vocation-view of the world has transformed how I see ordinary work and love.

How much of life’s ultimate import slips by unnoticed by everyone but God.

How service, sacrifice, and surrender keep the world going, despite their unsexiness.

How the quietest callings build the foundation for the common good.

She wasn't just at home with us. Home was where she taught us justice — and love, and kindness, and humility, and a thousand other truths.

If I end up half the mother that she was, I will have done more than enough.

Just that.

Peace,

Laura

Find my books here: Everyday Sacrament | Grieving Together | Prayers for Pregnancy & Birth | To Bless Our Callings | Living Your Discipleship

Connect with me on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter