Lesson of 9/11

Television images from September 11, 2011 pass float through my mind today as they have frequently during the last ten years.  The horror of seeing the second plane crash into the second tower as smoke was still billowing from the first tower is not the image that bothers me most.  I hate the feeling of falling (like when an airplane drops in turbulent weather) and the most disturbing to me personally was video of two people holding hands as they jumped out of an upper story to escape the searing heat and fell and fell and fell.  I don’t remember seeing them smash into the pavement below but adrenaline flows and panic rises inside me when I think how they felt during those dreadful moments.  The later photos of dust-covered people dazed in the streets and the voices of those reporting the collapse of the towers were awful.  The magnitude of suffering is unspeakable. 

As horrendous as these images are, the most appalling of all was video of people dancing and shouting in celebration in the streets in the Middle East.  I have never seen nor heard of violence and suffering in the world and reacted with exultant joy.  Their reaction was confusing, sobering and intensified the pain of what I had witnessed. Amid the devastation there was Christlike nobility of hundreds who worked to save and comfort others. Far from the scene, millions wished to help in anyway we could.

There is a movement to speak of healing and peace and talk of lessons learned on the anniversary of this willful carnage.  I pray for comfort and peace for the families of the victims.  I believe the suffering of the victims is swallowed up in the atonement of Christ who suffered not only the pain of the sinner but the pain inflicted by the sinner.  I believe we all reap what we sow and do not worry about those who joyfully cause or celebrate atrocities.  The story is not finished and in the end, God and goodness will put an end to evil and suffering and we each individually will stand before God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior and account for what we have done. 

It is my hope and prayer to be accounted as one who has worked to “comfort them which are in any trouble” (II Corinthians 1:4) and “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:12.)  I have also come to recognize that my desire to live peacefully with my neighbors in this world will not change the hearts of those succored by Satan who still reigns with blood and horror on this earth.  Not to acknowledge that Satan rages [or to deny his existence] does not protect the innocent or the striving.  Satan is real and has hold of the hearts of millions in our time.  I will remember and teach my children and grandchildren that he seeks to destroy all our Father’s children BUT we can safely trust in the promises and covenants of God our Father, knowing that ALWAYS God and his Son have power over Satan and the Father’s plan will unfold as he ordains it. 

The greatest lesson of 9/ll:  Stay on the Lord’s side and work harder than Satan and his minions to learn what the Father wants of me and do it.

God Gives Every Bird its Food

God Gives Every Bird it’s food but he does not throw it into its nest.

Josiah Gilbert Holland

God the Father told Adam he cursed the ground “FOR THY SAKE,” causing it to bring forth thorns and thistles explaining to Adam he would eat bread by the sweat of his own face.  (Genesis 3:17-19)  As the children of Adam, we work to sustain ourselves.  This requirement makes us stronger and more capable.  As we enjoy the fruits of our labors, we learn lessons:

1)   cause and effect

2)   self-discipline

3)   competence

4)   joy of achievement

5)   confidence in facing obstacles and challenges

6)   ability to help, guide and lift others

7)   peace of mind

8)   perseverance

9)   strength in the face of adversity

10)         ability to recognize what is of actual value

11)         gratitude to the Father

12)          eternal perspective.

I believe Our Heavenly Father designed our life on earth to teach us to become more like He is: to gain wisdom, strength and understanding.  The earth was cursed FOR OUR SAKE because working to sustain ourselves is a blessing that yields personal growth.   God intended man to work to sustain himself and to reap the benefits of his labor.  Those benefits include the ability to share and help others to also become self-sufficient. 

Any government that takes from the laborer to buy votes is operating contrary to divine principles established by a wise and loving God.  Politicians who claim the right to take anything earned by targeted citizens in order to distribute it through bureaucrats to whom they choose will destroy a nation. 

My husband and I are in our sixties.   We have worked steadily all our lives and raised a large family through intense labor.  We cared for my parents into our home when my invalid father was diagnosed with cancer and my mother still lives with us a year after his death.   We paid off our home but bought a home for a divorced daughter and her three children.  We are financially helping another daughter whose husband’s company went bankrupt leaving him without employment.  We continue to work to try support ourselves and these family members NOT EXPECTING THE GOVERNMENT to help us.  HOWEVER, the ever-increasing TAX BURDEN makes it increasingly difficult to use the benefits of our own labor to sustain our family.

Does anyone honestly think taxing people into poverty so their money can be distributed among bureaucrats leaving a trickle-down fraction to toss into the nest of people who did NOT earn it--benefits anyone but the bureaucrats?

God taught Adam to work despite the thorns and thistles in order to eat.  God also teaches to GIVE and INSPIRE and HELP those in need.  Politicians who glut themselves on the labors of the people they were elected to represent and then have the AUDACITY to take what we have honesty earned to create their powerbase and impose their vision of utopia on their constituents are NOT following the wisdom and commandments of God.  In the end we will all reap what we sow.  (Job 4:8)