Our 21 day fast wrapped up three days ago and I figured I should do some kind of wrap-up as a summary of the good, bad, and ugly of the process. So here is a wrap-up of the writing aspect of the fast and a little insight on where my head is at as far as the world in general is concerned and how I am feeling about that.
First, the good. I posted all twenty-one days, following the topics I selected before the fast began. I was pretty pleased with most of them. They were short, to the point, and generally stayed on topic. I was able to find images that were representative of them (at least in my mind) and were interesting. Many of the posts were somewhat revealing in one way or another, but nothing I would rush back to edit.
The bad. Not much was bad. There were days where putting together just those few hundred words was a challenge, especially if I was distracted with something else. There were topics I wish I had included on my list, which I may write about later, but there was no earth-shattering omission or problematic topic that I absolutely needed to fix right then.
Now for the ugly. There is really only one thing that was ugly about all of this for me…that it took three days to come back and write this wrap-up. I fear that my unwanted aversion to writing is creeping up on me and I won’t continue to write, here or on my book. And I need to write in both places. I need to get words on the page in my book, so I can FINISH. I need to put words here, because sometimes, there’s no better way to work through what is going on inside my head.
On that subject, I have a lot of things on my mind as a result of the fast. I have not dived directly back into the news and social media. I am approaching that wretched situation slowly, a few steps at a time. If I have learned anything from the fast, and I have learned a few things, it is that the world moves on whether you pay attention to it or not. Bad things continue to happen, whether you pay attention or not. Life continues.
What few things I have read since the end of the fast have been disconcerting, not great, and unfortunately, not unexpected, but they have yet to wreck my emotional state or raise my blood pressure significantly. I have had other things do that (topics for other times), but not the news. It is probably a matter of expectations – I expect things to suck for the next four years, or at least the next two, so when they do, I expect it won’t trouble me as much as when I had higher hopes for the world at large.
How bad do I expect things to suck? Let’s just say that the predictions of 2 Timothy 3 are upon us and have been for a while –
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
We as Christians have been warned of terrible things, and not just in the previous verses. Way back in the fifth chapter of Isaiah, there is a declaration of sorts that predicts exactly how things are playing out these days in our world –
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
Are you reading current events and the news? Does any of that sound familiar? Unfortunately, this is how it is to be. Thankfully, Jesus gives hope to his disciples and by extension to us in the sixteenth chapter of John –
20Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I have to say that I’d like to be able to focus more on these two verses than the previous verses above. It is hard to do this. However, as Christians, we should not be surprised with what is happening all around us. As much as we would like to avoid it, it is apparent that God wants us to experience this, if for no other reason than for us to be the salt and the light that can work to help others turn to the only thing that can truly help them…God. It is for this reason that he gives us hope in these two verses.
That’s a wrap for the fast posts. I’ll continue to write more faith oriented posts, I’m sure. I’m currently reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis as part of my small group study, so there undoubtedly will be things that pop up there that I will want to write about.
Featured Image: Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash