Sweet Honey in the Rock

~ seek to be wise ~

Who can sense of the madness make? Surely not I, nor you, nor anyone with a working brain. Once, Dave and I were talking of some tragedy...can't remember which one...and I said, "Dave, I just can't wrap my mind around why someone would do something like that." Dave looked at me gently and said, "And you may thank God you cannot." He was right; I do thank God I don't understand the madness that abounds in this weary, sin-filled, fallen world. 
God gave us free will and what did we do? We made the wrong choice! Poor, stupid us. We could have had it all... heaven on earth and instead we chose fleeting, temporal, instant gratification that doesn't gratify even for an instant (if we're being honest). 
Some, in arrogance, think, "I could have made a better choice than Eve, I could have done better." But no, we couldn't; usually, we just don't choose as poorly as someone else, but better? No, not really. Look at the decisions we make on a daily basis? How many times do we second guess ourselves? How many times do we play Monday morning quarterback? How many times do we want, in the worst kind of way, a re-do? 
I've lost count.
The Preacher in the Good Book says, "the wicked flourish because justice is slow in coming." He's right; the wicked do flourish and justice is slow but the wicked also flourish because of their rebellious spirit. In a world that cries NOW NOW NOW, those who wait are laughed at because all around us we're taught it's all about me right now. 
Oh how wrong and what a disservice we're doing to young folks to lead them down the wide path to perdition. 

~ from my rear view mirror ~

The Duggar parents taught their children JOY...Jesus first, others second, yourself last. Even those folks who think 19 children are too many...why they think it's their business anyway, I'd like to know!...have to admit, the Duggar children are good citizens.That family pays its own way...no government assistance programs for them! 
Oh, has that gone out of fashion? Being a "good citizen"? Paying your own taxes, tending to your own business, helping others less fortunate? 
Dear God, save us!
The "wicked flourish because justice is slow in coming." Men and women who know they won't be held accountable for a long while...if ever...do wicked and evil deeds and laugh at the rest of us. Even so, I encourage you to do good, spread joy and cheer to those who cross your path; fill your cup with joy so it overflows and is a light against the darkness. God is not mocked, whatever we sow, we shall reap and when we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. 
It is impossible for good people to make sense of evil. Don't try, don't open that door, do not go there. Instead, fill your mind with good things...things of beauty, joy, peace, calm, tenderness, gentleness and pray. Oh, please PRAY for your sake and for the sake of those you love. You can never, never pray too much.
I'll start by suggesting you listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock...here...as they sing Kahil Gibran's poem, On Children.

"Your children are not your children

They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself

They come through you but not from you

And though they are with you, they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts

For they have their own thoughts

You may house their bodies but not their souls

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow

Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

But seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children 

as living arrows are sent forth

the archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness,

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable."

Blessings ~ children ~ God, in a world gone mad too often ~