Counting Blessings & Keeping Them

Since I've been home this summer, it's given me the opportunity to watch the headlines a bit more than usual. Ironically, it's almost a refreshing change to review the top (clean) headlines of major new sources, since they utterly ignore the real news regarding changes our government is making that conservative news feeds remind me are a pressing reality.

Today I read a bit about the unrest in China. Wow. At least our government is not arresting thousands of its citizens. At least our government isn't crashing into citizen homes to incarcerate people of a certain nationality just because they have a scratch on them and may have been involved in the street demonstrations. At least our government doesn't methodically slow internet and cell connections to prevent us from communicating what's happening in our country with the outside world.

However, what does it take for a country to become like that? Perhaps, a government like ours and a group of citizens who would rather have another person fight their battles and control their lives. Already, we see increased persecution tolerated for people who stand for traditional values and morality. Yet, we must also remember that this is not a political battle alone. Lukewarm hearts yeild a lukewarm response to bad government; sleeping minds and souls allow those who are not asleep to revel in manipulative practices and powerplays.

In Chesterton's brilliant book on St. Francis of Assisi, he talks about viewing the world upside-down. He says that if we were to turn over and look at the world that way, the houses, trees, and people upon the earth, which normally look rather steady, rooted, and independant, suddenly look like their hold on this earth is rather tenuous. We question if gravity alone can really be enough to hold them to the earth's surface. The world quickly appears very dependant. Chesterton argues that this is looking at the world with a more proper perspective; everything on this earth really is incredibly dependant. Nothing can stand firm or seem independant except by the grace of God, which alows it to exist, nevermind stay in place in space and time.

Perhaps we should keep this image in mind as we consider our country. Some people see immediately how tenuous our democracy is and they shout or faint in fear. Others hurry to patch it up and stick thier finger in the dike wherever they see a hole. Still others think that the "change" we have been promised is as good as the 2nd Coming and they smile stupidly and nod as they receive thier tax breaks and welfare checks and never think where that money came from and how it got to them. Hopefully, some of us will stand on our heads. We will see that while human action is needed in defense of the good and of the true rights and dignity of man, ultimately, it is not us that prevents our society from crashing onto its clay feet; it is the power of God.

Join me, as we are still reminded by the flags lingering from July 4th celebrations, in praying for our country. Pray that the Lord may continue to favor His people with His protection. Pray that American's will not forget, even if the dollar coin fails to remind them, that truely, "In God We Trust."