Thursday, March 01, 2007

I get a little irritated when I hear people say,
"I am not sure I want to bring children into this
world the way things are today." Sometimes it may
be older folks and they say, "Things are just so
much worse today than they used to be, I don't
know how young people can make it now."

We think that if we could have lived in some other
time and place things would have been simpler and purer,
and it would have been easier to raise our children.

I always rather thought I should have been a pioneer
Me, who can't stand a cold house, HA! I've loved
the thought of hoop skirts and lots of crinoline, yet
I am somewhat claustrophobic and would probably have
been locked up when they tried to tighten the stays.
Joel always wanted to live in the time of Knight
Errantry. He wanted to fight the dragon and win fair
lady. Hattie thinks the Indians and their way of life
was a better and higher way.

But God is sovereign. He has put me and each of my own
children into this particular time and this particular
country and even his particular community for a very
particular reason. (Okay that was a little repetitious.)
But, the point is made. God is never caught off guard.
He is not surprised by what happens around us. If indeed
history is really what we claim it to be, His Story, then
He has put us exactly where He wants us and it is all for
some very glorious purpose.

Now there is great confidence in that truth.

Finrod in The Lord of the Kingdom says it more eloquently.

"‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’
said Frodo.

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live
to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that
is given us.’

Throughout my life I periodically have indulged in
wishful-thinking: I have dreamed of having been born a
century earlier, or perhaps several hundreds of years
before, when the world (in my imagination) was much
simpler and more to my liking than these days in which
I find myself. Many of us long, I suspect, for days
that never really were as we want to believe they were.

But God did not fall asleep on his watch, only to waken
and discover that he was late in tossing me into life.
I am where I belong. I do not get to choose the state
of the church of my time, or the cultural battles that
rage, or the theological slide that I perceive.

My - our - only decision is what Gandalf lays out:
“what to do with the time that is given us.” Paul said
as much, too, exhorting us to be always “making the most
of your time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:15-17).
This means I must choose wisely and I must be diligent:
I cannot live either in the past or the future; I can
only live today and do what I may as long as it is called
today.

These days may seem black and dark, but all days are so
to those engaged in spiritual warfare. There is glorious
light to behold one day, but not yet - not while the Enemy
still opposes our King and his purposes. My job is to do
as I’m told and not wish it were otherwise."

5 comments:

Fabulous at being Katy Jane said...

I always thought I was born in the wrong time period. I think all era's would be fantastic to live in. I can think of several reasons why I should have lived in them. Laurie, last night our Arkansas History teacher said that every generation has had a time period when things were bad. It's not just our time period. i.e.-the 60's and no matter what time perios it is, human nature is human nature, there will always be things that you don't want your kids to be around. Even in the Bible days. Maybe I should just write my own blog about this because this is the longest comment in the world. Anways, I have the personality of many differnt era's but like you said, God put us here when he wanted us. So I'm just an old spirit I guess.

Fabulous at being Katy Jane said...

PS-yuo still haven't put me under Mayberry bloggers. :) I'm just giving you a hard time. Great post by the way.

Susannah said...

Very interesting food for thought!

I also used to have a romantic view of the past, but the more I study the Bible (and history in general), the more I understand that evil has always been present... and perhaps more so during OT times. It's pretty depressing. Just think, because of man's violence, God actually destroyed the world with a flood (save Noah and his family). Since we are living in the "last days" and the kingdom of God is now present, I believe His Spirit indwelling believers excercises a measure of restraint on evil.

Actually, I think our "boomer" generation has it BETTER now than our parents' era... better medical care, better transportation, better educational opportunities, more wealth, no world wars (yet), and on and on.

I'm ever mindful of the illusion of security and safety though. There will not be peace on earth until Jesus returns. But we are told to fear not! "For I have overcome the world."

Sorry I've gone on so long! :~)

LeftCoastOnlooker said...

wow! great reminders! the daydreams are always fun, but my life is as the Lord wills - James 4:15.
My brother posted a dear little piece one day about "this is God's life, not mine."

My students & I were covering the Industrial Revolution, so to introduce it, they wrote a "letter" as if they lived pre-IR, about their day. As they read their letters, "I got up this morning & washed before I ate my cereal & rushed off to school." These things opened tons of conversations - how did you wake up? no alarm clock. How did you get the water to wash? the rope & bucket to get water out of the well? You can't just buy a bucket & a rope. And, if you want soap, you have to make it. What makes you think you can go to school, you're an ethnic minority. We went on for quite some time, before they "got it" life, just a few centuries ago was VASTLY different from 2007!
As for the hoop skirts, I don't miss wearing them for hours on end -- they get very warm with no AC! (I know whereof I speak)
sorry for blabbing on, so, you got us all chatting!

Laurie said...

Katy Jane- I will add you. You must remember that I am old and slow.

E-Mom- I agree.

Leftcoast-So, how do you know so much about hoopskirts and no AC?