Hope

I read too much news.  More accurately, probably, I read too much commentary on the news--columns, blogs, ezines, journals, etc.  The course the country and world have taken recently have frequently given me pause and made me frustrated, sad, or even angry.  Something I always said I believed is that the Second Coming may well happen in my lifetime.  While I'll be perfectly happy if that's not the case, I have come to believe that's possible in a more real way than I ever have before.  Maybe things aren't any worse--maybe I'm just paying more attention.  He says He will come swiftly, leading me to believe that the downward spiral will only speed up remarkably quickly.  He says He comes as a thief in the night, leading me to believe that He will be here when perhaps we least expect it. 

Doug has made mention many times in the last few years of the fact that he's ready.  OK, well, not completely, because he doesn't feel like he's prepared to stand worthily before the Lord, but ready to sort this mess out.  Ready to end the dissension and contention which tears at this world.  Ready for battle.  Being female, being maternal, even though I know what he really means, I always cringe.  While I have great hope in the promises and glories of the Millenium, all I can think of is my babies. "Wouldn't you love to raise your kids in a world without opposition?" he asks.  Of course.  But I can't stand the thought of raising them in everything that comes just before that.  I don't want to see them go hungry, ever.  I don't want to see them hurt or marched off to battle.  Every time I see flashes of news from Sudan, Iran, Israel,  etc, all I can think about is all those children.  Somewhere in the middle of those horrible, terrifying messes are millions of children.  Millions of mothers trying to bring comfort, trying to maintain some sense of normalcy in a world that has gone completely insane.  I don't want to be that mother.  I don't want those children to be my children.  I get insanely frustrated in feeling like there's so little I can do to help the children already in those messes--the last thing I want is my kids to be in such a mess.

I look at our leaders.  I don't trust hardly any of them, on any end of the political spectrum.  I see multiple evidences of attempts to encroach on our ability to live and preach our faith, and it makes me nervous.  But then I get a little perspective.

I stop and think about what the Lord has declared to His prophet:

". . .the standard of truth has been erected; No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs my combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, til it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, til the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."  

I've gotten off track the last several months.  I had cause to think about a post I wrote a year ago (you can read it here), that reminded me why I felt the need to start my blog to begin with.  That reminded me what I'm working for.  That reminded me that I need to get myself back on track.  Hopefully that means getting my blog back on track, too.  Its been a little scattered, self-indulgent and odd in recent months, but here goes.  Back to the nitty gritty.

Because, despite the trials that come our way in life and all the ugly things happening in the world, there is still much reason for hope.  For joy.