The Generations...

Last night I found myself binging on Cheez-Its while watching a show on Parenthood.  I saw our family in the episodes being played out...the siblings questions, the parent's own mistakes and the sins and dysfunctions of the children and grandchildren...as the world turns...

Josiah and I read in the Bible nearly everyday...we just finished the book of Daniel today and started the Book of Hosea...and there we see the siblings questions as in Joseph's story, where jealousy plays out, where parent's mistakes play out all through the Old Testament with David and Bathsheba, Nabal and his wife, and the list could go on and on and the children who fall into deception and sin...even God's first children (with a perfect parent) are deceived and the course of the future is set; sin is in the heart of every man and with it comes great and terrible heartache....

Heartache to be passed on from generation to generation, the sins of our fathers to the third and fourth generations...

How do we extricate ourselves from the pain?  How do we change and not become a victim, hurting ourselves over and over in the process and not being able to move forward?  How do we even recognize when we are the ones that need to need to change?  We are blinded by our self deception and denial.  "Who will deliver us from this body of death, but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession!"   I think triumph may look different to God than it does to us...triumph is not the world's version or vision of success.  We think of those who have money, fame, fortune or popularity as successful but many are harboring secret sins, despairing of a meaningless and purposeless existence (If not then why all the drugs, alcohol and suicides among those in Hollywood).  The age old ache of our soul, the questions without answers, all meant, I believe, to lead us to the answers...and it's not simply "Blowing in the Wind" (unless you are referring to the wind of God's spirit).  Our discontentment, our disillusionment and our often low-level if not full-blown depression should drive us to the manufacturer, the Creator of you and of me.  What are the manufacturer's recommended instructions for the proper use and care of our bodies and our souls?  The Word of God reveals the answers if we would have the patience to read them and not just rush headlong thinking we already know what to do, don't have the time to refer to the manual...what often happens when we do not follow the instructions when putting something together or don't follow a recipe as written...sometimes it will turn out okay, but then there are other times we are stressed if it is going to work out or it just plain flops and we get irritated with ourselves for not following the directions...

It is pretty simple really and yet the hardest thing we will ever do; follow and trust...