I know you said shed no tears for you but I will pray that God would indeed bless you with a special someone and children. May God richly bless you in the coming year!
It’s worth noting that we have our own examples of privation in this country. The Great Depression has mostly passed from living memory, but I grew up hearing stories from older relatives that lived through it. People in America today simply have no idea of how bad it was for most people and how desperate people were at times. The boom of the 1950s by and large made people start forgetting about it, yet here we are once again. Maybe the difference now is that things are just moving more slowly.
The unbelievably stupid response to Covid was the tipping point for a system that had already been on shaky ground for some time. The debt will continue climb at an accelerating rate, money will become worth less and less, and because everyone is still plugged into it, they will be financially wiped out. The people who will be truly secure are rare, I expect. If you work in anything that is optional, such as entertainment, restaurants, most types of retail, you are totally screwed. People are less and less about to afford those things. Soon, I doubt they will be able to at all.
The thing is, we got greedy as a culture and forgot our roots and what made the country great in the first place. Christian belief, the importance of family, the need for discipline, the drive to work hard, the desire for independence. People grew up being taught self-reliance. And people also grew up learning about God and being taught their lives had importance and meaning far beyond any earthly circumstance. If you give that up, you no longer look to anything except pleasure and trying to maximize your comfort and enjoyment from a material standpoint. Doom spending becomes a way of life because you are doomed at the end of the day, right? It becomes unsustainable overshoot. I think it is dead on accurate to say that loss of faith has caused a crisis in this nation, just not in the way most people think. Not the culture wars, but in having purpose that endures.
On being single and other circumstances, the older I get, the more I see that there is God working in people’s lives. I was raised agnostic and faith never played any part in my thinking. I lived the old cliche of going to church to impress and be with a girl. The girl later came out of the closet, but I wound up staying on Team Jesus. Funny how things like that can work. None of us have a permanent presence on the earth, but we are called to do certain things. I did not believe that for a long time either, but I think that if we listen and pray, then we find these things revealed to us. I think it is bad to accept the faith at face value, because there is so much that is rich and hidden just beyond the basics. Likewise, I think our lives and purpose are the same, rich and hidden until revealed.
Last, on Christmas, the birth of Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise made so long ago. Sometimes it seems odd that we celebrate it every year, all over again, until you realize that time doesn’t matter to God and these things happen eternally at all moments in time. It is the universal moment for the human race, whether they accept it or not, love it or hate it. If we dress it up to be something it is not, or try to put meaning into it that isn’t there, it will feel empty, because there is no room for it there. It is the birth of Christ, the greatest gift to all people, and the fulfillment of God’s promise, whether people accept it or not. The one true gift for all of us.
I know you said shed no tears for you but I will pray that God would indeed bless you with a special someone and children. May God richly bless you in the coming year!
Thank you Suzanne. That's very kind of you. It's difficult for me to have faith, but I'll accept yours instead.
It’s worth noting that we have our own examples of privation in this country. The Great Depression has mostly passed from living memory, but I grew up hearing stories from older relatives that lived through it. People in America today simply have no idea of how bad it was for most people and how desperate people were at times. The boom of the 1950s by and large made people start forgetting about it, yet here we are once again. Maybe the difference now is that things are just moving more slowly.
The unbelievably stupid response to Covid was the tipping point for a system that had already been on shaky ground for some time. The debt will continue climb at an accelerating rate, money will become worth less and less, and because everyone is still plugged into it, they will be financially wiped out. The people who will be truly secure are rare, I expect. If you work in anything that is optional, such as entertainment, restaurants, most types of retail, you are totally screwed. People are less and less about to afford those things. Soon, I doubt they will be able to at all.
The thing is, we got greedy as a culture and forgot our roots and what made the country great in the first place. Christian belief, the importance of family, the need for discipline, the drive to work hard, the desire for independence. People grew up being taught self-reliance. And people also grew up learning about God and being taught their lives had importance and meaning far beyond any earthly circumstance. If you give that up, you no longer look to anything except pleasure and trying to maximize your comfort and enjoyment from a material standpoint. Doom spending becomes a way of life because you are doomed at the end of the day, right? It becomes unsustainable overshoot. I think it is dead on accurate to say that loss of faith has caused a crisis in this nation, just not in the way most people think. Not the culture wars, but in having purpose that endures.
On being single and other circumstances, the older I get, the more I see that there is God working in people’s lives. I was raised agnostic and faith never played any part in my thinking. I lived the old cliche of going to church to impress and be with a girl. The girl later came out of the closet, but I wound up staying on Team Jesus. Funny how things like that can work. None of us have a permanent presence on the earth, but we are called to do certain things. I did not believe that for a long time either, but I think that if we listen and pray, then we find these things revealed to us. I think it is bad to accept the faith at face value, because there is so much that is rich and hidden just beyond the basics. Likewise, I think our lives and purpose are the same, rich and hidden until revealed.
Last, on Christmas, the birth of Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise made so long ago. Sometimes it seems odd that we celebrate it every year, all over again, until you realize that time doesn’t matter to God and these things happen eternally at all moments in time. It is the universal moment for the human race, whether they accept it or not, love it or hate it. If we dress it up to be something it is not, or try to put meaning into it that isn’t there, it will feel empty, because there is no room for it there. It is the birth of Christ, the greatest gift to all people, and the fulfillment of God’s promise, whether people accept it or not. The one true gift for all of us.
Merry Christmas.
Beautiful and very rich comment. Thanks for sharing all of that.