How important is this day?

Do you ever wonder how much our parents understood or appreciated the events through which they lived while they were occurring? While my parents joined millions of Americans in flattening tin cans, patching threadbare tires and rationing sugar to help fund a war on another continent, how much did they comprehend of what was happening? Was what we call "The Marshall Plan" just another piece of post war legislation which their tax dollars funded? Were our parents and grandparents too busy working, building homes, rearing children and funding retirement accounts to notice the great strides being made in industry, technology and knowledge? Did they ever reflect on the impact their lives were having on us, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren?

Alliances formed 60 years ago remain. Little fragments of order and peace known to our war-torn world are a result of eye-to-eye negotiations. Stalwart leaders stared down the pesky anti-christs of the 50's, 60's and 70's. While a parade of dictators threatened the extermination of Capitalism, pounded on a desk at the United Nations with a shoe and pointed missiles toward our shores, presidents refused to blink and expanded the "Arsenal of Democracy." But, I was busy attending classes, falling in love, building a family and scurrying about doing really significant things! How important is a guy named Castro? The names of Russian leaders were impossible to spell and pronounce. It was easy to ignore them while we pursued our own agendas.

I thought about these things as I awakened this morning. I thought about it because my sister, Gloria . . . the one who remembers praying for me with my Mom and Dad before I was born . . . my only sister, the one who helped me pay my college bills and sent me care packages . . . the one who helped me in more ways that I can ever remember or will ever repay . . . is having surgery today. Doctors say it is routine, just cataract removal. But, we three siblings have been so healthy that "routine" isn’t routine! The ophthalmologist who last looked into my eyes said that it wouldn’t be too long before I will share Gloria’s experience. In light of where we are in life, are we observing what is happening around us? Are we applying ourselves to the really important issues and sounding the appropriate warning?

Where we stand in national history is worth thinking about today, before the opportunity to appreciate its importance escapes. Consider that our President, in an inaugural speech no less, promoted the rights of those who live a lifestyle which God made a capital offense. The torturous events within the Boy Scouts of America put us at risk of God’s judgment while we listen to threats of "extreme wind chill indexes" and "accumulating slush on the roadways." Most children now grow up in a single parent home, most often with just the mother. Our President, who was reared in a single-parent home, is part of the new single-parent home majority. How has his journey through life colored his decisions? How are the realities of today impacting our future?

Some hear, observe, and have chosen to come out swinging. My e-mail "Inbox" is stuffed with challenges to activism. Some spend time angrily castigating everyone with whom they disagree. Others cower in fear, wringing their hands with a moribund view of the future. Some merely listen for the "wind chill index," dress appropriately and forfeit the opportunity to influence others. Could we ask ourselves, "Whom may I influence for Jesus’ sake by the way I pray, the way I live, and the words that I share?" Is it too simple, or is it audacious to assume that we are this generation’s equivalent to Ezekiel’s "watchman?" I intend to send a card to a friend’s daughter who is undergoing another round of chemotherapy. I’ll try to call someone I missed in church Sunday, do my best to make the Spirit of Jesus know with whomever I meet today and attend prayer meeting tonight. I sense an urgency to make today count.

The church that God assigned to form me during childhood, the years filled with pesky anti-christs, consistently preached, prayed, hoped and sang about holy living and Jesus’ return. We knew Jesus as our "Blessed Hope!" So, while I was musing long before daylight this morning, I sang!

It may be at morn, when the day is awaking,
When sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking
That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory
To receive from the world "His own."

It may be at midday, it may be at twilight,
It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight
Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory,
When Jesus receives "His own."

While its hosts cry Hosanna, from heaven descending,
With glorified saints and the angels attending,
With grace on His brow, like a halo of glory,
Will Jesus receive "His own."

Oh, joy! oh, delight! should we go without dying,
No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying.
Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory,
When Jesus receives "His own."

Chorus:
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song,
Christ returneth! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Amen. Hallelujah! Amen. Lyrics: H. L. Turner
Music: James McGranahan