Responsible for Our Time--by Linden Malki

God, in His infinite wisdom and care, created a world that gives us day and night, winter and summer, and even life and death.  We can learn from Jeremiah, who lived through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and watched the city be destroyed, the Temple furnishings and treasures be stolen; the king, Zedekiah, be captured trying to escape, had to watch his sons being killed, suffered his own eyes being put out, and was taken away as a shackled prisoner. Jeremiah knew that it was the disobedience of God's people that had allowed this to happen, and yet this is what he said :  Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is  bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.  It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. * 

We know we will be held accountable for what we do. We can ask forgiveness either/or from someone who may have been hurt, and from God, the ultimate Judge.  We also know that even though the people of Judah did enough evil to have their nation and city destroyed, including the Temple that had been built for the worship of God; that they did learn, and were enabled to return and rebuild. And yet, it happened again. New days, more prophetic messengers, new years, new politicians and priests, and yet God did something no one could imagine: Sent His Son, a part of His own Being, to be born in a real place, grow up as a real man, and on a real day of a real year, was sentenced and executed by men who claimed to be obeying God.  What they didn't know was that though they would be judged for their actions, God would use this as a way to step in, in a new way to do a new thing.

Each day, each year, each life, and even each moment is new, and offers us a choice. We can do it our way, which even at its best, isn't good enough.  But doing it His way requires that we stop, think, pray, and listen before we fall flat on our faces.  Each year we stop and remember His birth and His death. Each week we come together to worship with each other and learn from each other; to offer a helpful word, an encouragement, a word of sympathy and/or empathy; and go on through this day as a way to have our minds refreshed. Each morning we can look at what we are called to on for that day, and be open to words of hope and love.  Each evening we can reflect on our day, and ask how we could have done better.  Some of us remember our parents sitting or kneeling with us at bedtime, reading and praying with us. I recall sitting with my three older kids talking and asking and answering questions. It is amazing the questions that a child can ask: Where did God come from? I think they had asked all of the basic theological hard ones by about seven.  And the kids had a repertory of prayers: some Biblical, some traditional, some we came up with ourselves.
One of our favorite things to do was to come up with new endings for the traditional "Now I lay me down to sleep'', from books or our own inspirations.  (The original was written in the 1700's, when the child mortality rate was very high.)  In the long run, the people we live with should  know what we believe to be the most important use of our days, weeks, years, and life itself.
*Lamentations 3:19-26