I have gotten old enough to think that I have seen most things. This includes the exuberant confidence of youth, often ending with a gathering that includes an ambulance and a police car. It also spans across to cover adults in the arrogance that fall into a all too familiar trap that destroys families, relationships, and trust for several generations. The cycle repeats to include broken promises from every angle – employer to employee, representative to those represented, friend to friend. Everywhere one looks a relationships is being torn apart, bonds of trust broken or destroyed, and life is less because of the reality.
It this context it is easy to become cynical. Justice will never reign. Those who are pure will always play the brole of victims. The innocent will always move forward with more pain than they ever thought possible. Life finds new ways to be uglier than the day before!
When is this going to end? Are those who represent and perpetuate evil going to get a free ride forever? Is the pain of this world going to end?
Even the person wise to the world can be surprised at times. John’s writings convey both his surprise and hope. “Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness.” (Revelation 19.11)
There is no question that pain continues with a ferocity that nobody could possible anticipate. The innocent are victimized in ways that defy even the most hard hearted. In the midst of all this it is hard to see and hold onto hope. I desperately want to be surprised in the days that come. I want to see smiles where there was despair. I long to see eyes open wide instead of downcast in shame. John gives me hope that there is a White Horse coming. In the interim, you and I have an opportunity to be God’s eyes, feet, and hands. We can be a surprise to those around us. Everything is open to compassion!
