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Tuesday Morning Epistles
Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—It's a beautiful day in my
neighborhood. What about yours?
I am surprised when people my age—those who lived part of their childhood in the midst of the national economic crisis of the early 1930s—observe that the times in which we live now are almost as bad as the Great Depression years. What dime novels have they been reading? I was born in the middle of the Depression, but I remember hearing my parents talk about it. It didn't last a few years, either. It's effects were still being felt ten years later--at least where we lived. World War II didn't improve things either. Gas rationing; no new cars being manufactured; purchase limits on most essentials; victory gardens. I remember my dad's old Willys' pick-up truck. It was what it was—a "family truck." When we went anywhere as a family in the thirties, we were four abreast, or I was on Mom's lap. What a day it was when Dad bought a real car with four doors—a vintage Chevy sedan with a straight six (or was it four) cylinders? The Chevy was tired when Dad found it for sale near the onset of World War II. It had been re-conditioned: new paint and a rebuilt engine. My roller skates were more reliable, but at least everyone had a cushioned place to sit. But the times today are tough, economically. Almost every segment of society is affected. Trouble is everywhere. How should we face it? Anxiously? Fearfully? or faithfully? I vote for the third suggestion. So, what should we do when trouble shows up? I believe in "sing therapy." Pull out a favorite song, and sing it. Here's one I like, by Bill and Gloria Gaither:
Someone said that in each life some rain is bound to
fall
And each one sheds his share of tears, and trouble
troubles us all.
But the hurt can's hurt forever,
And the tears are sure to dry.
And it won't rain always
The clouds will soon be gone.
The sun that they've been hiding has been there all
along.
And it won't rain always,
God's promises are true.
The sun's gonna shine in His own good time,
And He will see you through.
Keep repeating that closing line. This week's "TM" is entitled "Embrace Trouble? No!" Read on whenever you are ready. And do what the apostle Paul said to do: "Rejoice."
Tom Barnard
A Senior Encourager
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Embrace Trouble? No!
mericans have been told that the downturn in the economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Maybe so. What is the best way to relieve anxiety over troubled times? Judging from what we read and hear in the media, the logical way to reduce our fears about the future is to practice what many politicians do—finger point. It’s often called the “blame game.” But is finger pointing the best thing to do? For one man’s opinion, let me take you back to the early 1930s—during the Great Depression. Isabel Leighton, editor of The Aspirin Age 1919-1941 (Simon and Schuster, 1949), agreed to write an essay for This Week magazine, reflecting on her interview of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Justice Holmes, ninety-some years of age at the time of the interview, had made it a practice never to allow himself to be quoted in any published source other than those opinions he made for the Court. But he gave permission to Ms Leighton to quote him after he had been dead for twenty years. Leighton agreed, and two decades after the interview she wrote her essay and entitled it, “Meet Trouble as a Friend.” Later it was re-printed in a book edited by William Nichols and published by Simon and Schuster, A New Treasury of Words to Live By (1947-1959). She asked Justice Holmes, “Sir, are you not deeply concerned over the Depression, threats of war and lack of security in the world?” She observed, “He shook his head indulgently.” Then he commented, “Oh, you young people, you think you’ve discovered trouble. If you want to live without trouble, you’ll have to die young! For if one thing’s sure, it’s that it’s always been with us and always will be.” Holmes’ next comment was powerful. “Terrifying, you think? Rubbish! It’s never fazed me. Been almost grateful for it at times. Makes us one with every human being in the world—and unless we touch others, we’re out of touch with life…If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I wouldn’t pass it around. Wouldn’t be doing anybody a favor. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don’t say embrace trouble. That’s as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you’ll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.” Holmes concluded, “No, trouble isn’t the scourge of the world. The world has its up and downs. So have people, and all the speechifying that breath can produce won’t change things or make the millennium come an hour sooner. You can’t run away from trouble.” And his final words: “Accept it. Don’t worry about it. Have faith—and do the needful.” Jesus lived in troubled times. So did the founders of the First Century Church. Only one of the Apostles (John) lived to be past 70, and the end of his life was anything but comforting. The Apostle Paul, who was executed by Rome in his sixties, had this to say in Philippians 4:4-7. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Should Christians stand against injustice? Absolutely. Should believers protest the rise of evil in the world? Yes. Should we support those causes that take the side of the helpless? Sure. Should we give sacrificially to improve the quality of life of the disenfranchised, the sick, and the needy, everywhere in the world? Yes. But should we be anxious and let worry tap our strength? No. The apostle tells us that we should pray passionately about everything—and to put our energy to work where it can really do some good. I like this quote from Reuben Welch: “Everybody knows about trouble. What everybody does not know is that God is involved in our troubles—and that He has a specific concern and intention for us in our endurance of them.” (Comments on Hebrews 12 in Faith for the Journey [Francis Asbury Press, 1988]). |