Complaining, Crying, Praising, Thanksgiving
Everyone’s
talking about the weather. It does seem extraordinary. Unfamiliar
patterns. So much more rain than we are used to. 2.4” in my gauge –
3.1”in yours… The river is full. The cloud formations are captivating.
Stories about the dense fog on Lake Holcombe on the night of the 4th
(have you heard?!). The corn is tall, the grass requires frequent
mowing. Greenery everywhere we look. Five crops of hay seems likely.Our immediate condition is in stark contrast to recent years of dry and brown. Susan and I recently read The Worst Hard Time, about the Dust Bowl in the midplains during the 1930’s. Talk about dry and brown! A few of our members were children and teens during those years, the period also called the Great Depression. The book is by Timothy Egan. He won the National Book Award in 2006. We learned in the book that drought cycles around every few years in the midplains, especially the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. The horrific dust storms were due to the fact that, for the first time, millions of acres of land had been disturbed for crops. In all the past, the land was covered with prairie grasses. Now the ecosystem was turned upside down and all hell broke loose. (You need to see the pictures!).
My point in all this is to marvel at how blessed we are to live in the Chippewa Valley. We have little if any of the wild nature swings experienced by so many in North America and beyond. We pretty much know what we will receive. A little less, a little more than last year or before. We may complain about this and that, but we really have it good.
In reading through the Psalms, it is impressive how the Hebrew people could mix their complaining and crying with praise and thanksgiving. Every once in a while they are blaming God for their misfortunes (as we do too). Sometimes they confess their part in their woes (as we do). A lot of the time they are thanking and praising God for their countless blessings (as we do). Only a few who have really known God, ever turn completely and finally away from the loving, creator God. That is true then as now.
During the horrible Dust Bowl years, most who knew God, did not turn away. As their children, animals and spouses died from eating and breathing dirt; they cried out and complained to God. As they began to see that their tilling of the soil was the major contributing factor to the disaster; many confessed their sin and responsibility. And many thanked God for the blessing of the hope found in scripture as they read the stories of Bibletime suffering and disaster and people’s faithfulness to God throughout.
It is good to enlarge our perspective and then reflect on our blessings in the Chippewa Valley. Because we have so much, are we called to share our stuff, our joy, our hope with others? I think so. That is a thread throughout scripture. People with more share with people with less.
And we do. With jail ministry, food pantry, free clinic, envisioning team, second service, Carelink, prayer shawls, vacation Bible school, our friends in Bangkok, Family Support Center, tutoring, FaithConnect, SAMMY’s, and more, there are many opportunities. If you are not actively sharing your blessings right now, would you prayerfully consider getting involved? Your love and the witness of your gratitude for all you have been given is needed by others so they might be sustained and matured in their faith.
Come and see. Come and do.
~ Barry Boyer
Note that the Pastor's Perspective can also
be found in The Bell.