Today's Scripture Reading (August 24, 2022): Psalm 102
After graduating from grade
six, I realized that I did not want to go into grade seven. Going to grade seven meant a change of
schools. I was used to the small elementary school I had attended since I entered grade three. Thorncliffe Elementary School was only
a couple of houses away from my home. Sir John A. McDonald Junior High School, the place
where I was slated to start Grade seven, was about a mile away. It was bigger and filled with
unknowns. I had never really liked school, but as I walked home from my
elementary school on that hot June afternoon, all I could think of was how much
I didn't want to go to that Junior High School in September,
just a couple of months in the future.
Even as a child, I understood
one reality. The summer months were fleeting. The days of summer fun would
disappear before I knew it. And that meant that, before I knew it, I would be making that mile-long walk to grade seven, and I didn't want to go.
So, I came up with a plan. I
was going to ban all fun from my life for the summer. I was going to sit in a chair and not even allow
myself to watch T.V. I would make my summer drag on and on. I planned to make the summer days as long as possible. Maybe,
somehow, I could delay that moment of grade seven into the mists of the future
and never attend.
Of course, my plan failed. I
don't think I even made it through the first day of summer vacation just sitting in a chair. Eventually, fun called, and I gave in to its demands. And so did grade
seven, which actually wasn't near as bad as I had imagined it might be. One of
the things that I feared about Junior High School was the lack of "recess," one of the few things about Elementary School that I
enjoyed. But I was almost a month into my Junior High career before I realized I
hadn't missed it. And that might have been the biggest
surprise about my entrance into grade seven.
The Psalmist is sick and
likely in pain. And from the context of the Psalm, he fears that his life is
coming to an end. And with that knowledge, he looks back at his life and marvels
at how swiftly time has disappeared. It is an emotion with which we are all
familiar. Life seems to disappear from our grasp faster than my grade six
summer. Like the Psalmist, the time will come when we will
look back and know that almost all of our life now lies behind us. At that time, we
will again
marvel at how swiftly time has
passed by us.
But it is not only that time disappeared from the Psalmist; illness lays heavy on him. There is pain deep inside
the Psalmist, so much so that his bones feel burning. There is nothing the Psalmist can do but
offer this lament to God. It is a practice found all through the pages of the Bible. And what is amazing is that the same God that
receives our praise is also honored by our lament. God refuses to be there for
us just when things are going well; he is also a God who stands with us through the bad
moments of life.
When it feels like time is running out and all we have
left in this world are bones that burn with sickness, God has promised to be with us
and carry us through the fire to the end of our world.
Today's Scripture Reading: Psalm
104
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