Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Very Loud, Very Public, Displays of Joy


It blew my mind last week as I read the story of the woman who stole the baby right out of another woman’s belly, injuring the woman severely and killing the baby.  What is the world coming too?  Then when I heard that she quite possibly wouldn’t be convicted of murder because the baby wasn’t considered a viable human being yet, I shuttered to wonder what our legal system was coming too.  This following a year of brutality and murder and political unrest and infidelity and naked celebrities bums plastered all over the internet and part of me wanted to just scream, scream at the top of my lungs, “It’s enough!”  But today when I read about the bill in NYC that quite possibly could become law to abort babies in third term, I was ready to throw in the towel.  I am, and will always be, anti-abortion.  You can judge me all you want.  I don’t care if the baby is only seconds into its creation, unless God steps in to end the pregnancy on His own, it is never, I repeat never alright.  Some situations are sad and horrible and I cannot even imagine the pain behind them, be whatever they are, but that unfortunately can be life and it is never someone’s right, no matter how sad or hard or unplanned or inconvenient to decide for another human being, just barely a few cells splitting or 50 years into mortality whether or not they are a mistake or should live.  That is only, only up to God.  That being said, even those people who believe in early term abortion have got to see the wrong in this.  When you have to inject a fetus’ heart with poison to kill it before delivering it, because if you delivered that baby at that time it would almost always live on its own, without the help of anything, that is murder.  No one, not even those who believe in abortion can say any differently without all out lying.

So where does the world go now?  I look back at my childhood and see the things, hard things, evil things that were coming about.  My mom would talk about how much easier of a time it was for her as a child than we had it then.  I’ve watched my kids and thought the same thing, “Wow, it was so much easier of a time for me when I was a kid,” but as swiftly as things change and as horribly as wickedness spreads, it spreads even faster than years of past.  When one pebble rolls and a piece of mud clings to it, it slowly gets larger, as another roll in the mud grabs hold it grows larger still, as this great big ball of mud gains speed and proportion it grows faster still, and the time will come when there is more mud to be seen than green spots of grass.  Tomorrow will be even harder for my children than today.  No longer is each generation growing in wickedness but each year is, and soon it will be each month is, then each day, then hour, until I wonder if anything will be shocking any more.

When can Christ come?  When can the world end, and burn, and renew and only goodness rein?  When oh when?  I know it is soon.  More than it has ever been it is soon.  You cannot look around you and see the great sin and immoral acts that are condoned and even celebrated as they are in the world today and not know that it is soon.  How I look forward to that day.  But soon, to a world that has been thousands of years in the making may or may not be in my lifetime.  What is a couple hundred years to thousands?  I cannot give in to waiting, because that great tomorrow when finally the world can let out a big sigh of relief when finally sin is wiped away may not quite be my tomorrow, but the Lord’s in His own eternal timeline of things tomorrow.  And so, I, in all the stress and turmoil and unrest of today, will find joy, even if only in my own home, and I, in all the stress and turmoil and unrest of today, will do all I can to spread that joy to others in the horrible, but still beautiful, world around me.

You see, Satan most certainly has not thrown in the towel.  Heck no!  He has amped up his workout and I will do the same.  God doesn’t want me to be sad.  “Men are that they might have joy,” and that doesn’t say, “Except in the last days when the world will be too wicked and neighbor will hurt neighbor and leaders will destroy nations.  Then it will be too hard and then Men are that they might suffer through it all and know that only when the world ends and Christ comes again can Men be that they might have joy.”  No, Men are that they might have joy, even now, especially now.

I can laugh, and smile and giggle even with all the horrible that is and I can smile at a complete stranger and share a pleasant conversation with the man or woman at the checkout line, or passing on the sidewalk, or at a job that I have never met before and brighten their moment a little even if the person behind me is cussing and swearing up a storm, because I can be that little light in that storm that brings about that “Men are that they might have joy,” if even just for a moment.

Last night, Jason, Jenny, Nan and I went out to grab a quick bite to eat after Miss Nephi practice and the run through of sound that Jason does for that for the last several years.  It had been a very busy week last week with uncountable amount of gigs in the books and a million other things.  We were all running very low on sleep for four or five days now and throw in the stress that is in our home with trying to sell said home, and as we all sat down at a table at our local Burger King, it was like a huge stalled breath was released and for a moment all stress just washed away.  I giggle thinking back to those very unfortunate people in Burger King who had to listen as the craziness that is our giggle fest and days story telling fest and silly memory retelling fest unfolded in a very public place such as that, but it was amazing how suddenly everything was alright again, and even more, happy again as we took a moment to set cares aside, and laugh as a family, loud and disturbing as we might have been.  I’m sure all of those patrons will go home and tell their tale of woe, of how they had to give up a peaceful meal to listen to that crazy redheaded family giggle and laugh with one another, but I assure you, that joy was much needed and the stress had to be let to wash away at that time more than anyone could ever know but us.

I felt it then, and I will try to understand it more in others as I maybe see the little bit of commotion, joyful commotion, that maybe from time to time needs to seep out in very public places, and hopefully I will remember last night and instead of rolling my eyes, hopefully I will smile with them and understand their need to find joy in and amongst the evil stressful world that we live in.

And if you were there last night, trying so desperately to eat a peaceful meal at a little town that you passed through on your way home, hopefully you too will smile and know that we were just grabbing a little bit of joy along our stressful way and hopefully you will find some joy in your day in remembering ours.  And if tomorrow comes and it feels too hard and part of you wants to sigh, while the other part of you wants to cry, grab someone next to you, smile with them, laugh with them, forget your stress just for a moment, and you might be surprised just how much joy you have shared with them along your way.

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