WITHIN

 Here is a great example of how my mind works~

As I was sweeping off the drive and patio this morning, a private jet flew over on its way to land at the nearby Fort Worth private air strip.(Yes, I have a blower--but it creates a dust storm and my clean windows need cleaning again)  The thing that caught my attention was the noise it made as it began to decelerate to land, I immediately had a flash back to 9/ll.  So many of the survivors have commented on the sound of the engines whining as the plane approached the twin towers.  BUT this time, there was no deceleration instead there was the shrill sound of the jet engines being at full throttle.  As I thought about the shear terror of that day, I wondered if I would be able to tell if a jet was going  to crash into one of the tall downtown buildings only a short mile away from me.  Is there any chance that we would have a terrorist attack here in Fort Worth.  We lost our feeling of smug safety the day those towers were taken down.  We realized we could be attacked by our enemies.  Our soft underbelly of isolation was stripped away on that fatal day in 2001.



Photo from Newsweek Magazine

I began to ponder how for centuries we had not known enemy attack upon our country.  Except for the remote Pearl Harbor, we have not had enemy forces make the long trip to attack us.  There are benefits to living on a continent surrounded by mile upon mile of oceans.  It allowed us to lull ourselves into a false belief that we would never be attacked.  The advent of missiles has perhaps awakened us to the possibility of attack, but we count on our safety net of counter-missiles to thwart any attack.

It then occurred to me what our greatest threat is---not an attack by foreign entities hoping for our failure.  Not missiles pouring down like rain, not nuclear bombers over our heads, not any sudden attack from without.   Our greatest enemy---our threat of failure---the most certain way to have our democracy fall down around our ears---is from within.  History should have taught us---read your civil war history books.  When we are caused to begin to fight amongst ourselves, we are at risk of losing it all.  When we can no longer agree, but only disagree, we are in trouble.  The attack after the last presidential election should have been our wake up call.  We are at great risk---unless we can find a way to remember the huge blessing of living in this great democracy experiment.  If we fail, if we allow our differences to grow to hate----we will be the beginnings of a domino effect of global democracies failing.  The world is watching us---are we a great democracy with political parties changing leadership as the people will or are we a mob---bent upon our "pick" ruling--at any cost?  The clock is ticking and I hope you are praying!

The greatest enemy is always the enemy within--not just from external sources, but internally--from within.  When we allow the world to begin to rule our thoughts---we are headed down the slippery slope.  Unless we get a toe hold upon reason, we will only pick up speed as we head for disaster.   We are headed for the rule of chaos and confusion.  Unless we are willing to take the pronoun "me" out of the center of our mind set and begin to think more of "we"---it terrifies me to think of the  world I am leaving for my grands.  NOW IS THE TIME TO PRAY!

"Christ encourages you,

and His love comforts you.

God's Spirit unites you,

and you are concerned for others.

Now make me completely happy!

Live in harmony by showing love for each other.

Be united in what you think,

as if you were only one person.

Don't be jealous or proud,

but be humble 

and consider others more important than yourselves.

Care about them as much as you care about yourselves

and think the same way Christ Jesus thought."

Philippians 2:1-5

2 comments

  1. Wise, profound words here, Lulu. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Let us continue to pray for our great nation so our grandchildren and beyond them will have a future of safety and security in our One Nation Under God. Blessings!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!