UNCOMMON EXPECTATIONS
Proverbs 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
When did the common expectations of honor, respect, and courtesy cross the line to become uncommon? Have they been relegated to a more austere generation and left behind as inconsequential in the present? When prayer before a meal in a public place becomes an uncommon matter of awe and spectacle to others, then we have lost our common expectations to the uncommon. As the somber and reverent changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns takes place and only a few spectators remove hats in respect, then common expectations have become uncommon. In the crowd of people that gather to remember the fallen who’ve kept our freedom but don’t know to salute the flag by placing a hand over the heart, then the common expectations have become uncommon. When patriotism to country and thanks to God are displayed in one common thread on a t-shirt and it invokes severe stares and but a few smiles, then the common expectations have become uncommon. Where is the memorial of our heart’s rendering when Memorial Day greetings become happy day-off wishes or a good day to get a bargain on major purchases? Is there a new standard of common expectations in America that have left us foundering in the uncommon expectations of a bygone era?
Why rain on last week’s parade? This last Memorial Day was a time for my family to take a pilgrimage to the place of patriotic memorial and monument. We spent a couple of days in Washington D.C. to remember in a more personal way the sacrifices of fallen soldiers and patriots. We got more than we bargained for.
The atmosphere of the holiday weekend was festive and many people from other nations swelled my chest with more than a little pride for the accomplishments of America’s heroes. But, what exactly were they here to see? Do these tourists understand the roots of our heritage that made this nation? Does even our latest generation understand?
This scripture references the fields of the fatherless. What do the fatherless have in common? The fatherless have no heritage, past, and none willing to sacrifice for unborn generations to come. The fatherless generation is a “me” generation, (Sound familiar?). The fatherless live to gain the best deals, bargains, and enjoyment out of their living for themselves. There was a recent generation in America known as the “me” generation. It was a generation that sang of free love, and demanded no consequence or attack of conscience. Free love only abounded through easy abortion. But we have moved beyond even this abomination. After the “me” generation came the “whatever” generation. Whatever happened or came about was acceptable. Nothing was of any consequence. This was the early beginnings of the aborting of the American spirit. Soon the abortion of the American spirit reached its peak with the working mother, fatherless children, a Godless school system, and the societal tearing down of anything remotely of God. Now, the latest generation seems to care nothing for themselves or others; they are at the pinnacle of apathy and are the epitome of complacency. To take a life or preserve it means no more to them than whether to pull a trigger on the gun of a virtual animation. Children have lost their lives over the brand of their shoes or the color of a shirt. It has become entertaining to assault others and record it for the world to see and expect accolade instead of judgment. This “change” generation simply does anything for the sake of doing different in disregard of any consequence. They seek only to find something different to alleviate the boredom of whatever they’ve been doing and are willing to affect and accept any alteration which will change their current state of being. Exit the land of the old landmark; enter the fields of the fatherless!
Remove not the old landmark! What is our recourse? The landmark has not been removed from the physical touch, but has been lost in the hearts of the people. When the hearts turn from the old landmark then it will soon decay and fall from neglect. It is not the physical landmark that holds our heritage it is in the spirit that places them. It is the spirit that gives them meaning and maintains their integrity. Without the spirit the physical is lost. As man fumbles his way down life’s pathway it is his spirit, either living of dead, which matters most. Fumbling in a dead spirit will lead to a dead end, without hope, and without recourse. Gaining a renewed spirit will lead to an understanding beyond reckoning and reveal the elusive mysteries of eternity in the promise of hope, recourse, and eternal life. Is this the American spirit we have lost?
Not exactly! But it is the spirit which planted the seed out of which blossomed the fruit of the American spirit. It is this Holiest of Spirits which brings a renewed spirit in man for the undertaking of impossible odds. The Holy Spirit led our forefathers to a new land. It was a new, seedless, ground into which they brought with them the old landmark; a landmark in their hearts, not having been uprooted nor torn asunder, but tended and revered in the bosom and bowel of every pioneer. They entered into a new land but they entered not into the fields of the fatherless. They sowed the seeds of accord, humility, faith, reverence of God’s creation, and fear of an Almighty God. The first seed was planted in a field called the Declaration of Independence. From this field grew the first tender shoots of the fruit of the American spirit. Soon, battles were fought in cleared fields, irrigated with the blood of heroes, and sown with the seed of the Constitution of the United States. From these fields grew a greater, sturdier, American spirit. As the country grew a renewed and more hearty fruit of the American spirit seemed to leap from every blood soaked and irrigated field of freedom. This fruit became a priceless crop and the world demanded its export at every turn. Out went not the fruit of the American spirit but the root of the Holy Spirit in a great deliverance; the gospel of Christ for the endued Spirit of God. It is only by the Holy Spirit we have the American spirit. It is only the advent of God in the lives of our forefathers that there is an American spirit. It is only by God we exist. Why has reverence to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit become an uncommon expectation in the land of the old landmark; the root of the Holy Spirit? Where is the spirit of God in our land?
The loss of the American spirit suggests the loss of the greater Spirit of God.
What are your common expectations?
Are they more uncommon than common?
