It's very easy to be a grump these days.
Hard-line rhetoric and "us-them" positioning seems to rule the day, as if that is what advanced living and thinking is. Our world -- even our little corner of it -- seems unceasingly and increasingly locked in the sort of conflict that revels in problem-finding more than in solution-seeking, putting people in boxes that magnify division more than inform a dialogue. And contributing to all this is an environment that far too often lacks even the most basic level of human civility and common decency. Yes, it's very easy -- and popular -- to be a grump these days.
But, as this passage from James 1 reminds us, we are called to be joyful -- even (and especially) in the face of trials such as these. In fact, we are to joyfully persevere. So let us choose to set a more productive tone. Let us discern how we can serve in this place and with the people in front of us, then do so joyfully and even jovially. In so doing, we persevere in the steps of our Savior, knowing that the ability to live joyfully in a flawed world is a mark of Christian maturity.
More than anything, though, let us choose to not be just another middle-aged grump, who fails to reveal through word, action, and disposition the truth of our almighty God and His joy and peace beyond comprehension.
We set the tone. We have a responsibility to be points of light for a world in desperate need of it. So let us choose to be visible reminders to those around us that, in Christ, the battle is already won, the victory is already secure. Let us choose to go out today to live, persevere, and grow -- WITH others, in joy.
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Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift of this day. Help me to embrace and enjoy whatever comes my way this day, in the only lifetime that I will ever have. Strengthen me so that I may persevere through whatever trials I might face to always be a reflection of Your joy and peace beyond comprehension.
In Your name, I pray. Amen.
