Terra Infirma

Recently it was explained to me that the earth’s crust undulates, pulled this way and that by pressures exerted on it. Contrary to my assumption that terra firma really was terra firma (apart from tectonic plate shifts causing earthquakes), it seems it is terra in-firma. Changing all the time, sometimes subtly shifting, sometimes spectacularly shaking. Not, then, to be fully trusted. 

I hear the news, and my emotions are pulled this way and that. I find tears come readily when I hear stories of Syria. My heart bleeds when I hear of another mass shooting in a school in the US, and the response of some people in power. My heart breaks when I see a picture of the face of a shell-shocked Marine during the Vietnam War. My generation. And then my spirit soars when I celebrate a family birthday, when I play goofy games with a three-year-old precious granddaughter, or build blocks with a couple of one-year-old grandsons. My heart swells when my kids get involved in making this a better world through lobbying, through praying, through helping the poor, through loving in spite of everything. 

Jesus said to be alert to the signs of the times. Perhaps every generation since Jesus has seen the wars and atrocities, the violence and abuse and injustice, and reckoned the end was coming soon. Perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn’t. 

My job today isn’t to worry about what’s happening tomorrow, but to love without ceasing, drawing on the Spirit to inspire and fuel that love. To walk in the Light, towards the light, shattering the darkness and bringing reconciliation. As He enables me, I can speak shalom.

Perhaps the world is terra infirma, but God isn’t. He is faithful, and he is love. And he never changes.