are you up for the challenge?

Our country is so full of sadness, destruction and hate. Growing up during the Vietnam War years, I still remember 1968 especially. It was a sad year as, one by one, those who sought peace were killed while violence flourished. Then came the 70's...slowly, we pushed all that back into the past as we focused on a new future. TV shows also focused on what we knew from our secure past; the 50's, with "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" on our screen, while "Grease" and "American Graffiti" played at the theaters. Once again, we settled into our comfortable routines. As I slowly gave up my Barbie dolls for junior and senior high school, life once more became normal.

Flash forward to now. Ugh!

I walk a dog daily; his owner has a flower and vegetable garden right by her house. This spring, she planted Mammoth Sunflowers. Two weeks ago, a severe thunderstorm pulled down two of the plants that were already over five feet high. She managed to stake them up, but one seemed to succumb to the wind damage as it listed painfully to one side.

Day after day, as I looked at that plant, it went from wilted to dark, as, one by one the leaves withered and died off. I wondered when she would realize what a hopeless cause it was and yank it out. Keeping it tied off to a garden stake, it seemed to cry out for mercy from it's pitiful 45 degree angle.

Today I noticed her other Sunflowers, admiring their yellow heads facing southward, toward the noontime sunshine. Looking closer, I had to blink twice: there on that plant that was presumed dead...were four baby sunflower heads, also turned towards the sun. The stem itself seemed to do an awkward dance as it sprouted from the side of the original plant. No mistake about it, it had revived itself!

Nature always makes room for what we think is doomed. When Mount St. Helens went off in 1980, many scientists figured the area would be a vast wasteland. Instead, it is becoming once again a land of pristine beauty.

The same can be said of our country as well. This too shall pass, they say. The feelings of vertigo will pass and life will begin anew. Not in the same way, of course, but what does spring forth will challenge us once more to take time for gratitude, to make room for strangers, to hold out our hands in friendship and love.

Revelation 21:5 says, "Behold, I am making all things new. And then He said, 'write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'" (See the full chapter, it is so uplifting!)

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in  Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here. Behold! You are new in Christ, even today!"

The old things, according to Scripture, have passed away and so it shall be, even during these perilous times. Cling to what you know, cling to Faith, to God and pray often. He is with us always, even to the end of time!