Fossils

September 8, 2017

It must be the curse of old age. Or perhaps the blessing of it. In our writer’s group this morning, the retirees outnumbered the young almost two to one, and the conversation turned to current events, from the hurricanes battering the South to political correctness gone amok as free speech is shouted down and history is rewritten by our domestic versions of ISIS that seek to destroy statues and monuments they deem offensive. We are remnants of another world, fossils that tell a tale of a life long gone, but unfortunately, it is a world moderns are more eager to bury than to excavate and preserve. 

It is tempting for us fossils to get discouraged, to live in the past, but only if one sees no door open to the future. Those of us around the table today were mostly men and women of faith; Christian, Jewish, and Native American. Our faith traditions ground us in history while at the same time pointing us to a bright future. Ancient and modern pagan religions are cyclical, following the turning of the seasons, but without a defined goal. Judeo-Christian faith is linear, beginning with Creation and ending with the New Creation God himself ushers in at the end of the present age. We put little stock in the future of this present world, even as we work for its good. Our hopes are pinned on the world to come. 

Some have asserted that such a viewpoint is an escapism that devalues this life and the people who live in it, but an eternal perspective elevates the importance of this world in our story of redemption: God so values that which he created that he gave his Son to make possible this world’s redemption and renewal. And if God values this world and the people in it, so should we. So we work to make this world a better place even while we realize that our efforts are really geared to the world to come.

Yes, we oldtimers can be pessimistic, but we can also be optimistic in our vision of what lies ahead. Where we get cranky is in our impatience with those who would waste our time; we don’t have enough of it left to allow others to decide for us how we use it. We understand as younger people cannot, how precious and fragile is this gift of life, and want to make the most of every day we’re given. Tonight I am grateful to have made it this far, and to have done so in the company of some very special people whom I have the privilege of calling my friends.