Today's Mediation - Tuesday, September 8, 2020

 Today's Meditation

Read Job 29:1-20

Job again took up his discourse and said: ²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; ³when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; ⁴when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent; ⁵when the Almighty was still with me, when my children were around me; ⁶when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, ⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose up and stood; ⁹the nobles refrained from talking, and laid their hands on their mouths; ¹⁰the voices of princes were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. ¹¹When the ear heard, it commended me, and when the eye saw, it approved; ¹²because I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper. ¹³The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger. ¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made them drop their prey from their teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix; ¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches; ²⁰my glory was fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

    I don't think there is a more appropriate reading for today (all our current days) than this passage from Job.  After days/weeks (months) of mourning, and after presenting much of his case before God, Job just wishes that things were the way they used to be.  He wants to go back to the days when life was full and abundant, when his children were around him, when his "steps were washed with milk and the rock poured out for me streams of oil"; when life was extra joyous and full of blessings.

    I've heard so many people say that they wish we could just go "back to normal".  But, growing up, (long before a pandemic changed everything) I also heard that same lament from adults who complained about "us youngsters" and how life was better "in the old days".  Being in my mid-fifties, I'm not exactly sure I know what going back to normal should be anymore.  Life changes and evolves.  It always has and it always will.  Even for Job.

    There isn't any going back.  There is only moving forward.  So, do we waste our time dreaming of what we think were the glory days or do we cherish what once was and look with anticipation on what will be?

    If you've ever read Job, you know how the story ends.  If you've ever experienced another person's life who cherished each moment as it came and looked for joy in tomorrow, you know how the story ended for them, too.

Friends, be joyful in the living of each day!

Yesterday - by the Beatles