How Do You Live?
We are living through unprecedented times. I don't remember when I wasn't living in unprecedented times.
It is no revelation to state that the world is changing rapidly, and the U.S. in particular. These are crazy times, and in the context of the last 50-60 years, they feel like a polar shift. I'll be the first to admit that for these last few years (and especially beginning in late 2024) I have felt a deep depression and a horror at what it seems this country is becoming.
Even with a minimum understanding of history, it is not hard to foresee a future authoritarian doom tramping over the horizon. We've seen this playbook before, and countless other peoples and countries are declaratory sirens if we have the ears to hear their voices over the gulf of years.
It is difficult to overstate the anxiety I've felt. The dread of seeing another breaking news story. The disquieting feeling that my country is sick with a fever that I can do very little, if anything at all, to alleviate.
All of this has led me to the question in the title of this post. How do you live? How do we as Christians, as Citizens, as decent Men and Women live in a country and a world seemingly hell-bent on surging Hell onto the surface?
I don't have the best answer for any of it. My mind seems split into two parts: One insists that humans weren't created to be aware of everything, everywhere, at all times. In our modern era, it is very easy to become overwhelmed by the constant deluge of negative information being pumped at us. The continuous wars and humanitarian crises happening at a scale no single person can reasonably fathom, let alone give an articulated and informed response.
The other half tells me that we can and should be aware. On guard and preparing to speak life into death. To remind everyone, everywhere, that God is ultimately in control, that the life of suffering can be countered. Not by erasing suffering entirely, an impossible task, but by striving to. To place our feet firmly on that path of Heaven and to bring everyone we can along with us. To participate in the grand ordering of the earth and to bring Heaven down on it.
How easy it is to say something like that previous paragraph, how hard it is to do and put into practice. I can only take comfort in that I was made for a time such as this. That, as our institutions tremble and the foundations are ripped out, I have a rock to stand upon. I can only live in unprecedented times by relying on my unchanging God.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
