Sunday Afternoon Tea - No looking back even when I prefer the good old days

The first half of our winter season began very mild.  You may remember me whining because the Lake Effect snow that was produced by the winds blowing from the north to the south over Lake Michigan stopped just short of our area a few times and I really like to have snow on the ground in December.  It makes the Holidays sparkle even more.

I knew there is usually a balance to weather patterns so the snow would arrive after Christmas but I doubt any of us was prepared for the harsh winter conditions of January and February.  The brutally cold temperatures, along with far more snow than we usually get, combined to make it almost impossible to get out of the house for long stretches of time.

This resulted in us having to cancel and reschedule various appointments so March has been one medical appointment after another.  You can see how the COVID restrictions continue to be in place when you are in a doctor's waiting room.  Both my doctor's office and my retinal specialist's office have a minimum amount of chairs and allow only the patient inside the doors.

My husband went to see a dentist for a tooth extraction last week and he had to fill out the new patient form in the car and then wait in the car after he returned it.  They called him when it was his turn and took him immediately back to the office where the dentist would see him. There was no time in the waiting room.  

Did you expect such things to still be in place a year after shutdowns?

I think now that a year has passed, we are all beginning to realize the world has been changed forever.  The government in this country has never had as much power over the average citizen as it has this past year and it looks to be getting worse instead of freedoms returning. 

It shouldn't surprise us that the statistics of suicide have risen dramatically.  Especially among the very young as well as for high school and college students whose school experiences now include isolation as they only learn in front of a screen.  It is hard enough being a pre-teen and teenager today without throwing in such loneliness for many.

I heard an interview with a Bible teacher last week where he said the older one is, the more difficult the changes also can be to handle.  He brought out the point that those over a certain age (mid-50s more or less) remember an entirely different world than those who are younger.  I can relate to that statement.

I remember when the television stations all stopped programming around midnight and they ended the day with a benediction.  I remember when stores were not open on Sundays.  When we first moved to Holland, Michigan, the McDonald's was closed on Sundays!

I remember when Stephanie was little and we could walk with her dad in the airport all the way to the gate where he boarded the airplane.  The only security was the airport police.  I remember when people dressed up to go shopping, to a restaurant, or even to travel on an airplane flight.  I remember when pastors would not think of preaching wearing jeans.

I remember when a TV show was cancelled because so many people wrote in to the network, offended that the man and woman were living together and not married.   I remember when Disney asked Annette not to wear a bikini and Barbara Eden had to cover her belly button on I Dream of Jeannie.

So, why this trip down memory lane?  Because I was thinking this week how some of the changes in our lives were slow in coming, much like the proverbial frog being slowly boiled as the water temperature was increased a little at a time.  Yet, others happened in a moment like 9/11.

Have you ever watched a TV show or a movie that was made prior to 9/11 and thought how much simpler life seemed then and it was not all that long ago?  We will definitely be dividing our future years between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.  Life changed dramatically between January and March of 2020.

As I have written before, if we still have breath... God has a purpose.  I am learning that He doesn't want me to live in the past and compare it to the world today.  It's fine if I take a look back with nostalgia and remember that the culture was not so anti-Christian.

However, waxing poetic about the good old days does nothing to help do His work in such an unstable world.  What the world needs... and thus, our family and friends and children and grandchildren... is stability.  Someone to believe in.  To know there is a future and a hope.

What is needed is an Anchor in the midst of our storms and we know that is only found in Jesus.  Let the world scoff and act as if anyone who believes Jesus is returning to set up His Kingdom is a moron.  Let them talk of reeducation facilities for people who voted conservative values, we know one cannot reeducate the Holy Spirit from someone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior. 

Yes, it can be very unsettling to be living in this day and age.  I liked it much better when the culture was based on Judeo-Christian values.  It was never perfect but it was indeed easier for us who have those same values today.  But God has us living in 2021, knowing full well what life would be like today.  It doesn't surprise Him for He wrote in His Word what it would be like.  He has you here for a reason.

Ask God what you can do, where you are, with what you have right now to be salt and light in your world.  It may be running for the school board and it may simply be making cookies for homeless shelters.  He may ask you to simply place some inspirational and Christian books in the little free library containers.  God has a need at every level of our culture.

I know many of us are limited in what we can physically do but the most important things any of us can do is to pray for those that God has placed in our lives.  Pray for your prodigals and pray that the people in your life who walk with Him keep on that Journey. 

Remember, it is never too late to keep praying as long as there is breath in the prodigal and even then, we do not know if they made a decision for Christ in the last moments of their life.  Everything becomes clear when they realize they are stepping into Eternity.

I pray each day for myself, my family, and close friends to walk in God's wisdom and in His discernment.  He seems to indicate in Matthew 24 that deception will be a problem just before His return and can't we see that happening today?  I can't tell you how many times I have wondered why a person cannot see the Truth.

There is a scene in the first Left Behind movie, (the original and not the "modern" secular remake), which I think is good no matter where you stand on the timing of His return, where the Kurt Cameron character realizes what is happening around him (just as his Christian friends had warned him) and excuses himself to the bathroom where he accepts Jesus as his Savior.  After that, everyone around him is deceived except him for the Holy Spirit within is protecting him against deception.  I think of that scene quite often.

Think of the people whom you most admire, those that reflected Jesus in the way they lived.  What did they say or do that would be helpful for others to see in you?  I think so often of Edith Schaeffer, who admitted she was far from being a perfect example of a Christian, but who influenced a generation of young Christian women... many of whom are now older Christian women.  Notice I did not say old?  ;)

Find strength and peace in the Word of God.  If you desire to know more, ask God to lead you to ways to learn more like Bible Study Fellowship or She Reads Truth.  There are also very good books that teach the Word. That way you will be filled when someone else needs the wisdom only found in the Bible. The side benefit is the strength and peace you gain at the same time.

Jesus is coming soon.  Whether that be next year or the next decade or longer (I kinda' expected not to make it out of the 1970s!), there will be a day that He will come again.  Easter is coming up soon and each year we are reminded that the prophecies of the first coming were all fulfilled, so we can be assured the second coming will be fulfilled, too.

There is someone in your circle of friends and family that needs to be reminded there is an Anchor of Truth in these turbulent times.  You, my friend, are here for such a time as this.

Mentioned in this Blog Post

Left Behind: The Movie... here.

Disclaimer:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate links.

Image:  A photo of my husband and granddaughter at Colonial Williamsburg.  That little girl is now a teenager.  Time goes by so very quickly.