(At risk of offending Jenny and sending her running away, with her fingers in her ears, singing "La la la la la la la.... I can't hear yooooooouu....")
There is a certain amount of mourning to go through upon receiving the diagnosis of a terminal illness. It shocks. It saddens. It often forces one into involuntary fasting. It drives us to prayer.
But then life goes on. For a while. Maybe longer than the doctor expected. Maybe shorter. But the life that goes on, goes on with a changed perspective. (Remember that country song, "I hope you get a chance to live like you were dying"?)
There are certain economic realities. Believing that these economic principles are just somebody's "beliefs" or somebody's opinion Does Not Change the fact that these economic principles are incontrovertible truths. When these economic laws are transgressed, there will be consequences. (It's no different from my believing that I can fly will result in my smashing onto the ground when I "fly" off the roof of the house.)
Tuesday's vote totals were not due to voter fraud. Tuesday's decision was a revelation of the will of the American people. Tuesday was a turning point in American history. (Or maybe election day of 2008 was, but this Tuesday showed that November 2008 wasn't a fluke.)
So now we mourn the diagnosis. No, we don't know when the end will come. But we live with two realities: the days are numbered, and God still blesses. We pray "Give us this day our daily bread" with a greater understanding of the "dailiness" and less reliance on our own strength to provide for ourselves. We live with uncertainty about the future of our temporal existence, with nothing to rely on but the Lord's gracious promises. We cannot count on a future of prosperity and a retirement laced with world travel, so we will be content to take each day as it comes, thankful for whatever joys of life and family and creature-comforts we happen to have at the moment.
And that's not necessarily a bad place to be.
We don't like having our idols taken away. But when we do, there is only One who remains true and faithful and inflinchingly for us.
"This is the victory that overcomes the world -- even our Faith."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thank you, Susan. You always have a way of putting things into the proper perspective.
ReplyDeleteSusan, in light of your comment on my blog and your post here I found this article (link below) interesting. It suggests that what we are experiencing is more like divorce than death because the thing/person one is mourning intentionally chose the given path and that is in some ways harder to accept and process than death.
ReplyDeletehttp://ricochet.com/member-feed/Grieving-the-Loss-of-America
Good point, Cheryl. Thanks! (Cool too to see that Paul wrote it.)
ReplyDelete(And after I write that sentence, wait till you get to Fred's "Honey" book. The mistakes between "to" and "too" are driving me bonkers!)
Yeah, it didn't click who the author was until you pointed it out!
ReplyDelete