Maybe looking ahead a little, but....

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.......I really liked the article in the new issue of Touchstone by Patrick Henry Reardon entitled The Son Risen With Healing: Biblical Aspects of the Easter Revolution.

I was particularly moved by the last paragraphs of the essay:

The Lord's final act on earth is to raise his hands in blessing, as he ascends into heaven, after which we faithful return to the upper room for a prayerful retreat to assimilate in our hearts the mystery so recently, so gently too, and so deftly revealed.

How long will it last? We have no idea. "When" is none of the Church's business. It is not for us to know the times or seasons that the Father has put in his own authority (Acts 1:7). Concerns about God's schedule are a great distraction and open to terrible deceptions.

And this is perhaps the most important lesson that we learn during these forty days of the Lord's mysterious lingering with us. He will do what he will do, and he will pick the time and place of doing it. Until the end of the world, our task, according to the earliest page of the New Testament, is simply "to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:9-10).

That speaks to my heart, and to my weakness. I am not a St. Martha groupie for nothing. I want to do and fix and make things right and have things come to an orderly and appropriate (appropriate in my eyes, mind you) conclusion. I find it frustrating beyond belief to see so much that needs to be done--and so few hands doing it.

My biggest temptation is to despair. So much is wrong in this world, and curmudgeonly person that I am, I really only see it getting worse. I see my child and his children-some-day facing a world far less friendly to our beliefs than it was in my own day.

I think that they will end up living in a "marriage can be between anyone", euthanasia practicing, embryonic stem cell using, "don't talk about your faith it offends me" world. But it doesn't matter. My job is to work faithfully, believe in the living God and be the salt and light in a ever darkening world. And to keep remembering Who is in charge of this whole thing.

And to keep reminding myself that it's not me.

2 Comments

"Be not afraid. I go before you always.
Come follow me, and I will give you rst."

Obviously the answer is Faith, Hope, and Love.
Where have we heard that before?

I know what you mean. It weighs heavily on my soul at times, but the victory of Christ over death is a reminder of Who is charge, and that it will be an eternal victory.

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This page contains a single entry by MamaT published on March 31, 2007 10:43 AM.

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