Last night, Saturday to Sunday, November 19, 2017 was a stormy night. The trees were crashing in the wind; the leaves blown into sopping wet drifts speckled with litter; and any light was overwhelmed by rain so that the darkness penetrated the soul. Yet, we know that joy cometh in the morning.
As the light began to penetrate the darkness and seemingly push the storm to the unsuspecting east, I could feel the warm and wet tropical air and was reminded immediately of Psalm 30.
5For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5
The United States is the most affluent nation in the world and while we may find ourselves behind the many of the developed nations in individual statistics, such as education systems, where we are 14th, behind Poland, Finland, and Ireland. We lead all the rest in defense spending, which is not a statistic that I am particularly proud of; we also lead in numbers of nuclear weapons, which is equally disturbing. We have more homelessness than all but 9 countries, and more than any other developed country, again, I’m not proud. I do not know where we fit in the list of most folks addicted to drugs, but we have somewhere north of 19 million addicts in the United States, but they are dying so rapidly, that it makes my head spin. In Puerto Rico, US Citizens are unable to hold their heads up because of the weight of the storms is still overpowering us.
This morning, it was easy for me to see that the storm had passed: the winds had died down, the streets had been washed clean, and people were beginning to move about in southeastern Pennsylvania; it was warm, and the storms were gone. Oh, that it was so easy to wash away the dual scourges of lack of education and addiction; oh, that the weeping that lingered at night could be so easily washed away with the coming sunlight. With wealth comes tremendous responsibility; a responsibility to put the God given talents to work to make the earth a better place for all humankind so that we can make sure that joy comes in the morning.
As the light began to penetrate the darkness and seemingly push the storm to the unsuspecting east, I could feel the warm and wet tropical air and was reminded immediately of Psalm 30.
5For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5
The United States is the most affluent nation in the world and while we may find ourselves behind the many of the developed nations in individual statistics, such as education systems, where we are 14th, behind Poland, Finland, and Ireland. We lead all the rest in defense spending, which is not a statistic that I am particularly proud of; we also lead in numbers of nuclear weapons, which is equally disturbing. We have more homelessness than all but 9 countries, and more than any other developed country, again, I’m not proud. I do not know where we fit in the list of most folks addicted to drugs, but we have somewhere north of 19 million addicts in the United States, but they are dying so rapidly, that it makes my head spin. In Puerto Rico, US Citizens are unable to hold their heads up because of the weight of the storms is still overpowering us.
This morning, it was easy for me to see that the storm had passed: the winds had died down, the streets had been washed clean, and people were beginning to move about in southeastern Pennsylvania; it was warm, and the storms were gone. Oh, that it was so easy to wash away the dual scourges of lack of education and addiction; oh, that the weeping that lingered at night could be so easily washed away with the coming sunlight. With wealth comes tremendous responsibility; a responsibility to put the God given talents to work to make the earth a better place for all humankind so that we can make sure that joy comes in the morning.
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