Our Golden Age

               A little food for weekend thought:

     "The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks."  Randall Jarrell
     All I can say is "Amen!"  Is that not our tendency?  We miss the joys of today in our endless striving for a more promising tomorrow or our insistent sorrow over a lost yesterday.  We long for "the good old days"-- forgetting the good old days possessed the same measure of sorrows, challenges, and limitations with which we are confronted today.  Sure, the nature and type of difficulties may vary from generation to generation, but the source remains the same--a fallen world.
     We tend to forget: we're not home yet.
     Every age, every generation, has it's share of blessings and burdens.  And every age, from the Dark Ages to the Golden Age, has You, Lord, as it's Sovereign King.
     But lest we miss the moment God has given us today--the fleeting time of "now"--we need to remember the joys He has given us in our "Golden Age."   Interspersed with the challenges are the priceless benefits--family, friends, of course, but also the smells of summer, the songs of birds and crickets, the sights of fireflies lighting up a field at twilight and leaping deer, the taste of melting ice cream on a hot day, the scent of grilling hot dogs and buttered corn, the gift of laughter with loved ones...
     We live in the Golden Age.  Right now.  In this very moment.
     Thank You Lord for swimming with a few siblings (and a niece!) on a muggy summer evening--

     Thank you for the startling beauty of hydrangeas.  Such perfect bundles reflecting Your glory--

     Thank You for the reminder of Your faithfulness in never ever leaving us nor forsaking us.  Your promises are ever and forever true: "It is the Lord who goes before you.  He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deut.31:8)  And thank You, Father, for the dear friend who just sent us this picture--a memory of Your love and presence always always always with us, through the highs and the lows--

     Thank You for the gift of love...of loving You,  Father, our Heavenly Daddy.  And the gift of loving one another.  All of us imperfect, but all beloved by You.  "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." (I John 4:11-12)  Help us to love, Lord.  
    Give us eyes to see Your astounding goodness to us in this, our Golden Age.  Turn our focus away from the gilded treasures this world applauds and fill our vision with Your glory, Your grace, Your good gifts.  And Father, for those whose today seems anything but golden, for those facing another day of sadness or struggle, we ask that You would fill them with Your peace even amidst perplexity, Your hope even amidst fear, Your light even in the darkness, and Your unquenchable joy even amidst sorrow.
     Make us ever mindful of Your promises...You have assured us that "Because I live, you will live also." (John 14:19)  Real life.  Abundant life.  Eternal life...in You.  
     To God be the glory.