The Enemy We Face

It is true that silence is consent, but to be vocal takes so much time...so much energy and Lord knows we all have too much to do! There are after all, family members that need our time and attention, a job to head off to everyday, dishes to be done, laundry to be washed, meals to be cooked, a yard to be cared for etc.etc.etc... We can be tempted to think that this idea of being vocal and getting involved is for other people who have more time on their hands and fewer obligations to meet. But the truth of the matter is that when a crisis arises that is as acute as the fiscal and social upheavals that we Americans face in our country today, our priority list must shift; it must accommodate the time needed to allow us to take our place on the front line of the battle.

This age that we are living through has become the epoch that will define future life in America and speaks volumes about who we are as a people. I cannot help but think of that generation rightfully called ‘Great’, that generation which when faced with fighting the Second World War, understood the necessity of shifting its priorities and rising to the call. They understood the perils of their day. Can we say the same? Do we understand that we really are in peril? The enemy we face today is nothing more than an idea, a way of thinking, a frame of mind, and as such it is much more insidious then any enemy this country has faced in the past. Until recently, this idea has shown itself to be superlatively skilled in taking advantage of our individual weaknesses and problems, telling us what we only think we want to hear and lulling us into complacency by assuring us that our best interests are being looked after and that our every need can be met. Further, with cunning exactitude it, the enemy, has strengthened our complacency by convincing us that our ordinariness has rendered us impudent, telling us that since we have nothing of value to offer, we would be unable to resist its effects even if we had a mind to.

Let it be our prayer that a sink full of dirty dishes will not haunt us to the point of neglecting of our patriotic duties. Let it be our prayer that we will cherish our personal freedoms enough to cast out our lassitude of spirit. And let it be our prayer that the great generation is not behind us but in fact within us.

Against the Wall!

Sometimes I just want to give in...stop caring...stop trying. If I write, it is nothing. If I draw, it is nothing. If I sculpt, it is nothing. Getting my degree produced nothing save an enormous bill! No matter what I do it seems that I have nothing to offer in this world and certainly not in the cultural battle in which our country is engaged. For me even social networking to get the word out produces no effect. None of the information I put on my fb page is even commented on. Is it me I wonder or are most of the people I am affiliated with just disinterested. I know that most of them are not only Christian but active Christians...and yet, nothing!

I confess my frustration at the lack of interest in the Manhattan Declaration. 'isn't this,' I wonder 'the bottom line for Christians?' You know what I mean...isn't taking a stand like the one proposed in that declaration the very same spiritual movement that led thousands of Christians to go singing to their deaths at the hands of the Roman emperors? Yes it is! But now days we Christians are a soft bunch! We thinking that our faith should produce a blessed easy life. Funny, Jesus never said that. He said pick up your cross and follow me. It used to mean not just falling in love with a suffering God, but sharing in the suffering. Now most Christians believe that they don't have to suffer, that Christ did all their suffering for them. We don't understand the love Jesus was speaking about. He spoke of AGAPE (Greek - selfless love ä-gäp, äg-p)He spoke of sacrificial love!

Oh Lord, fill my heart with real agape, then it won't matter to me if I work myself silly and produce nothing, it will only matter that I tried for love of You and my neighbor.

All I can really do is pray. But Lord....do my prayers matter?