Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/383863
d e v o t i o n O bey gravity. It's the law. Now let's see a show of hands: how many of you just did a split-second check to make sure you were obeying the law? You couldn't break that one if you tried! The laws of physics are easy to follow—just live, and you're obeying them, for better or worse. Other laws take effort and commitment. We know societal laws and are expected to follow them for our own wellbeing and for the good of the community, even when we feel inconvenienced by them. And someone is there to make sure we do. Another show of hands: How many of you know obeying societal laws is a good thing, but sometimes find it a huge pain? How many of us squeeze through the intersection as the traffic light changes from yellow to red? Running late, we drive at five, ten or fifteen miles an hour above the speed limit—and get mad when we get ticketed. It's not like we were breaking any major laws, right? Yet, if we are honest, we admit that our actions affect more lives than our own. One minor infraction by me may cause a major difficulty for someone else. Case in point: To enroll my daughter in a program to help coor- dinate and pay for her autism therapies, I spent weeks gathering her diagnostic evaluations and doctors' contact information, attending meetings and getting her covered by Medicaid. The application process was long and tedious but worth the effort. Lines and Loopholes Several months later services abruptly ended because the renewal paperwork I sent through the mail arrived after the deadline. I called the local Medicaid office and was told (I'm paraphrasing here), "Mail delivery's slow, so tough luck. You missed the deadline so you have to apply again." No amount of apologizing or complaining would get my daughter insured and back to her therapies. As much as I hated filling out forms, making phone calls and spending hours in the Medicaid office, I did it all again. Then I was told, "You didn't send the right financial information; bring it to the office so we can start over." So I did. This time, the caseworker approved the finan- cial papers but frowned at a letter from the Social Secu- rity office. "This denies benefits on financial grounds, not disability. You have to prove disability." Away I went again to prove what's been proven, because the law that briefly inconveniences me profoundly helps someone else. I may not like the process, but I love my daughter. In the middle of a complicated world full of laws, Byzantine procedures for following them and often strict consequences for breaking them, I have remembered a simple truth: "The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as your- self'" (Gal. 5:14). This takes effort and commitment, but unlike the law of gravity, it will lift you instead of drag- ging you down! Cecilia Amorocho Hickerson is a mother, spouse, church musician, artist and writer living in Louisville, Kentucky. Like or Loathe It, It's the Law BY CECILIA AMOROCHO HICKERSON Todd Davidson/SIS