This headline caught my eye…
“Dreadful past decade also offers much hope”
Just ‘looking around’ on the computer last night, I couldn’t help but notice the title of the article. DREADFUL PAST DECADE… Not much room for interpretation there… and here I thought this past decade was pretty OK, silly me. ’Bad?’ the first line of the article quickly interrupted my positive train of thought ‘You thought the first decade of the 21st century was bad? It was worse than that.’ Sheesh, I thought, SORRY!
As I read the article, I was reminded of the hardships our state and country had endured. (September 11, a decade bookended by war, economic hardship, natch.) But the article did offer some balance, reminding readers of victories we had all shared. (Elisabeth Smart returned to her family, medical breakthroughs, the flight into the Hudson, real life-changing stuff) Despite my best attempts at joy, my mind began to play along, looking at the victories and hardships of my and Matt’s last 10 years:
3 Beautiful babies, growing up healthy/3 little ones, lost before birth
A new house we love, continued employment/watching others face difficult times, and setbacks
An amazing church and church family, stronger than ever/ built up slowly on the ashes of a failed church plant
You get the picture. But I’m not sure the person who wrote the article gets the BIG picture- A decade is simply a decade. It is an invented way to mark a segment of time. In and of itself it has no power, but the passage of time does have a tendency to shed light on a few basic truths…
The BEST of decades can not bring anything but fleeting happiness to anyone outside of Christ, the source of lasting Joy.
The WORST of decades can not shake anyone resting in the promises of Christ, our source of Peace.
At midnight on December 31, there is one thing we can be sure of: 10 more years of our lives have passed. We have no way of knowing if these last 10 years were 1/9 of our life, or 1/3. Either way, time marches on, and not a moment of this life is to be wasted on anything outside of the eternal!
Ephesians 5:15+16 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil”
Good stuff…too bad you’re already taken, otherwise I’d try to snatch you up.
There are many, many nights when I crawl into bed and the phrase ‘time marches on’ enters my head. One day comes after the next- and they are all so fleeting.
And “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” this world could come to an end, as can our temporal bodies.
How did I use my day yesterday? How will I spend this day? I pray it is to the glory of the One who made us, the same One who was in charge of every decade that has passed and every decade that is to come.
Sweet post. Thanks for helping us stand back to see the big picture.