We took tickets at the world premiere of the opera, "Blizzard Voices." The libretto was written by Ted Kooser, the poet laureate of Nebraska. The music was also locally written, and pencil drawings by an Omaha artist were on the screen behind the musicians on the stage. There was no acting, just singing by well known operatic soloists and the chorus from Opera Omaha. The words and music were masterfully matched with the pictures.
Depicted was the blizzard in January of 1888 in Nebraska. It was an unusually brutal storm. Homes and school buildings were wood and sod structures unable to withstand the strong winds and below zero temperatures. It bore down during school time. The production was a series of vignettes of what happened at various locations. Most of the one room school houses and crude houses had fire wood for only one day so keeping a stove going longer was not possible, although at one home they took apart a porch and some furniture to burn as fuel. Teachers did what they could to try to protect the children. The roof of one school house fell in. Others tried to walk to nearby homes. The bottom line was that many people, old and young died during the storm. The next day after the storm passed, the survivors began the search for their loved ones before the wolves could find them. The strength of the wind and the bitter cold made digging out bodies like digging through ice. NO ELECTRICITY, NO WATER, NO FUEL.
I read an article in the Reader's Digest about a family that went 30 days without spending any money. They did some things that I don't think were right, but for the most part they succeeded. (They exempted the mortgage and basic utilities.) They found that they were much closer as a family by doing things together. They found the simpler life more rewarding. In a way they cheated by using food they had on hand, but they did not even buy food for the month. At the end of the month they opted to continue their simple ways.
The recent and current news about the effects of hurricane "Ike" combined with the totality of natural disasters around the world leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, without electricity, water, or food. In Myanmar particularly, the ruler would not accept humanitarian aid. Add into the mix the many people whose lives are disrupted by war, political persecution, kidnapping for the slave trade, etc.
These thoughts can only bring a sense of sadness, even helplessness. Yes, life is hard. There is crisis after crisis, pain after pain. One can get sidetracked by it. Christians, however, find strength kindled by adversity. Our faith is bolstered when we see God at work bringing good from the rubble. We are comforted by knowing He is all powerful and uses trials to urge us into service which glorifies Him.
BUT! I look inside me. I don't think I could physically manage without a house over my head, running water, etc. I don't think I would know how to clean up toxic soup such as is covering Galveston. Could I bring glory to God while starving and in pain?
How spoiled we are here in America to have so many comforts/conveniences - computers, cell phones, any phones, appliances which do the back breaking work for us, running water, electricity, recreation even. How thankful we need to be and generous to share our God given blessings.
2 comments:
Thank you, thank you for sharing! Great thoughts - and so true. While I am very, very grateful to live in such a country as this, I know that it is often crippling. Affluence is a tough thing to overcome in the building of spiritual character. We are a selfish nation - even when we are frugal and generous. We just don't understand *having* to go without. No choice. And somewhere deep inside we insist we never will. Ah, the pride of the rich (us). It likely precedes our fall.
Very good post. I appreciate your thoughts.
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