Lucky You

Like a shadow spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes. Fire devours in front of them and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness. Before them all peoples are in anguish. – Joel 2, excerpts (NRSV) 

Joel put a lot of work into his poetic descriptions of the devastation armies’ effect, and I’m betting you were bored before you got halfway through. Lucky you, if you can’t relate.  

Lucky you, to be in the minority. The majority of people, throughout a majority of the world and a majority of history, have lived with this sort of threat hanging over them. Or lived with somebody who could tell them exactly what it was like. 

Not just in history. You may not know how it is to have the shadow of armies blotting out the noonday sun, but plenty of people alive today do. 

You may never have seen enemy soldiers running along the rooftops of your city, climbing in windows and doors, but lots of others have. 

You may never have witnessed the look on the faces of those who see the army coming and know there’s no way to escape, but many have. 

Foreign armies. Civil wars. Racial violence. Police states. Lucky you if you’ve never experienced them. Lucky you if you have the luxury of wandering attention when people describe their effects. 

And if you have such luck, what’s it for? What are the lucky supposed to do with their good fortune? Does it have a purpose? If it doesn’t have a purpose yet, should you give it one?  

And maybe most important of all: can the luck be shared? 

Prayer 
Help me know what to do. Amen. 

About the Author
Quinn G. Caldwell is a father, husband, homesteader and preacher living in rural upstate New York. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.