What If?

A reading for Thursday, September 24, 2015: Genesis 26:3-5.

What if the immigrant was not the problem? What if the immigrant was the blessing? The one who brings the promises of God? What if the immigrant was faithful to the covenant of Abraham? Faithful to the commandments, the laws and the statutes? What if the immigrant was the way God had chosen to bless all the rest of the families?

What if Isaac was the fulfillment of the covenant of Abraham? What if he lived out the blessing of his father? What if he married and had children and his children were the blessing all he world had been awaiting since the start of creation? What if we still read about the blessing of Isaac and recognized Christ's blessing for us from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

What if our nation were an nation of immigrants from its inception? What if people came to our shores from all over the world with fears and dreams? What if they built a life here based on the blessings of God, the commandments, the laws and the statutes of God? What if we welcomed them because we knew that we too once were immigrants, our parents and our grandparents? What if they blessed our nation with faith, and love, and compassion and strength of character?

What if we finally fixed the "immigrant problem" in the United States? What if the immigrant was the blessing? What if?