Erosion and Change

Erosion and change serve up good and ill in our lives.  We are informed that erosion of useful land areas is threatening to the good of earth and human beings.  A large earth scar in America is named, The Grand Canyon.  It began millennia ago as a rivulet flowing in a southwesterly direction, almost undetected but slowly moving grains of earth in the direction of the flow – very slowly.  Today that flow, which grew in size to a river called Colorado, has cut a great ditch in the earth that is counted as a national treasure of beauty and grandeur not to be interfered with in its natural formation.  What if the myriads of fields that I have observed in stages (some advanced) of erosion were left to their futures as canyons, would we be enriched in their breathtaking beauty?  Girded with an understanding of the meaning of truth and constructive context, I find the greater beauty of a waving field of wheat in Colorado, a magnificent crop of corn in Nebraska, a stand of cotton in Georgia or Arizona, a herd of steers in Wyoming or Montana, a field of strawberries and great nut trees in California, and the story enlarges for every state – than I find in the now protected miles of the Grand Canyon, occupied by a few native Americans in its bowels eking out a living.  This is said with the understanding that I have stood, several times at the edge of the canyon, awed by its existence.  What of the apples of Washington, the Oranges of Florida/California, the turkeys of Minnesota, the cheeses of Wisconsin?  The story goes on and on.  One canyon per country is enough.  Even the mountains are useless without sprawling prairies.  I should stand in wonder at an earthquake.  One was so extensive the other day that it took the lives of hundreds of people in Nepal including persons climbing Mount Everest – one of whom was a major owner of a leading incorporation in America.

We do not know with certainty that our pleasant experiences are better for us than unpleasant.  It appears to me that some of the advancements in the world have divided persons more than uniting them.  Prosperity seems to have divided the society because it rewards some persons more than others, and divides a people in cultures.  Some marriages do not force persons to get on with each other when the economy doesn’t press them into solidarity.  Discipline for adults and children drops away.  Working hard for economic security we may let other factors, very important to life, erode away.  We are not great analysts of ourselves.  We work hard, a good thing, but the work may be on a treadmill.  The children rebel, often not understanding what they dislike, so may take a road as depressing as that of their distracted parents.  There is a natural gravity to our lives that holds us down to the order of things.  When we factor that gravity out we seem to float, as though weightless, as do the astronauts in space.  Everyone needs some sort of tether, or they will float away, and miss what they may see at the point of the end of matters for them that they lived, but not in the pattern that God offered for meaning and fulfillment.  Without understanding the mystery, we join it nonetheless and end up wondering about what happened.  It happened to Samson, to Jonah, to Nabal, and the list lengthens.  It is interesting that King David honored Abigail for her counsel and actions that saved him from the folly of arrogance and revenge that might have cost him everything.  The factor that caused recovery several times for David was the willingness to accept fully the challenges of God in persons like Abigail and Nathan, the prophet.  We are greatly blessed to have persons who care about us that challenge us when we get too smart for our pants – as my mother would say to me.  (I am awed by her parable.)

It freights a truth we must be conscious of if we get through with the least hurt in our arrogance, tendencies, effrontery, selfishness and carnality.  A couple came to see me during a conference at Hume Lake in California.  They responded to my sermon.  On their early marriage they determined to plan their lives so as to gain a fortune by the time they were in their mid-thirties.  They made it.  They were not angry at each other but both felt something was missing.  They were not fulfilled, and they felt they were just floating, even uncertain about having children.  I sympathetically said: Jesus talked to a person just like you two.  Do you know what he said?  They immediately responded: Go sell all you have and give to the poor.  They left me with the feeling the young man aroused by Jesus: He went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.   (My seeking friends could have formed a foundation to serve themselves and others.)