It’s been a week since Patty’s monarda plant was crushed by a lazy lout of a delivery man who laid a 30-pound box on top of it.
And yet the plant still lives! They grow ’em tough, here in New Jersey. It’s even standing up kind of straight again.
For those of you who prayed for us to receive this small blessing, I thought you’d like to know that God has heard us and given us what we asked for. It’s a truly great and loving God who makes time for little things!
Praise God! Praise Him everyone. Even a sparrow does not go unnoticed, and He certainly cares for Patty and her tender care of His flower.
It astounds me that the driver could be so stupid.
Something occurred to me today. I remember that the seventies were times of great distress. I remember hearing endless tales of abusive authorities, perverse court decisions and moral breakdown. Then, starting in the ’80s, it seems as if things leveled out a bit. There were still bad events happening, but the insanity and injustice seem to have been reduced. Then, about 2007, it seems as if it came roaring back and now we are back to the “anything goes” world of the seventies.
Yes, UnKnowable, you have that nailed. And, sorry to say, I do not think there will be much more improvement in the situation. However, we still have II Chronicles 7:14 to consider.
Now, thanks to the Lord for healing this plant that Patty loves. He does, indeed, consider our smallest concerns and He “fixes” many things for us just because He loves us.
Truly, for decades, I have pondered the changes that occurred in that time period, and perhaps, our God delayed His judgment at that time. I recall distinctly the events of 1979 and early 1980 and I felt that this wicked world had reached the end of its path at that time. (I have a similar feeling these days, BTW.)
But then things seemed to change. There seemed to be an outbreak of decency. That is not to say that there wasn’t plenty of wickedness, but the social acceptance of said wickedness had declined significantly for quite a while. BTW, those years seemed to coincide with economic growth and relative security.
In my supersessionist days, this would have barely been noticeable to me, but these days I see it differently and the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 seem to apply, at least to some degree.
Ultimately, I think that we are in a time of judgment at this point and I don’t expect any more reprieves.
My pastor once made the comment that when God judges there’s nothing left. I tend to agree. My opinion is that we are not being judged “yet”, but we are headed in that direction. At this point I think God is removing our hedge of protection against the forces of darkness. I believe He is purposely letting things happen to get our attention. Looking back, things really began to change on 9/11. Then in 2008 we reached another milestone. Since then evil has been intensifying. God is long-suffering. It took over 100 years from when God first gave Noah the plans to build the arc, until the flood. But His patience will not endure forever. When this age of grace ends, He will judge the entire world.
Somewhere I have an essay I wrote late in 2001, in which I said the events of 9/11 would somehow encourage our Far Left to new excesses. The ink was barely dry when they stepped up their efforts to turn America into a suburb of Hell. They were much more fierce and fanatical after 9/11 and they were before. And it was after 9/11 that Western liberals fell in love with Islam.
God help us.
Yes, thanks be to God for blessings great and small. And praise for the beauty that will never die, because all beauty comes from the One Who created it and endlessly creates it still.
I’m reminded of King Alfred’s rebuke to the pagan Danes in Book III of Chesterton’s “The Ballad of the White Horse”:
“For our God hath blessed creation,
Calling it good. I know
What spirit with whom you blindly band
Hath blessed destruction with his hand;
Yet by Christ’s death the stars shall stand,
And the small apples grow.”
(Pardon if I got a word or two wrong. I’m doing this from memory.)
Amen!