Wednesday, September 21, 2011

lasting impressions need not last forever

Scripture passage that caught my attention today: Psalm 137:7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!”

Observation: They vividly remembered some things that were said.

Application: Some things stick out in our minds. The look on someone’s face…the tone in which something was said…the way in which something was done. It sticks with us, for good or for ill. The ancient Israelites remembered well the day(s) of Jerusalem’s downfall. They remembered the neighboring peoples coming in and destroying all that the Israelite’s held sacred. Never mind the fact that the Israelites had themselves been unfaithful to God. At the forefront of their minds was still what they considered to be the injustice of their plight. And they remembered the onslaught of it all in vivid detail.

How does one move on from that? How does one navigate the arduous terrain between “let bygones be bygones” or living with a perpetual desire for vengeance?

Maybe by letting it all out. Psalms like this one are more descriptive than prescriptive. They are a expression of emotion rather than an act of emotion. Sometimes we all have a need to safely express our feelings of the moment…in a poem, in a song, in a journal, in a verbal outburst, in a candid outpouring with a trusted friend and/or in prayer. It’s how we feel at the moment or even for a while. It’s part of who we are, but not all of who we are. It’s part of our life experience, but not all of our life experience. It’s today, but tomorrow’s another day. Tomorrow might bring more of the same, or something a little different.

Prayer: Lord, traumatic events often shape us, but they need not define us. Help us find our ultimate definition in and through you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Daniel 7-8, Psalm 137, and Luke 4)

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