Decay and his looming shadow

There are certain things that are undeniably true.  Facts that no amount of whimsical ideology can overwrite.  Realities that shape this thing we call the shared human experience.  The casting mold, so to speak, of the edifice that is life. Indisputable like the solidarity of the limestone in the Grand Canyon.  Unavoidable like the biting wind on the short winter walk from the car to the door.  Inescapable, like the burning sun on the endless desert landscape.


Decay. 


All things go bad.  All things decompose.  No matter how much we get together and declare that it is unjust or unfair, we will never be able to stop the milk from going sour or prevent mold from growing on our store bought bread.  All things go bad eventually.


That car you spent your four summer's in high school saving for will rust and eventually become inoperable.  The house you broke your back and bank account to build will one day break down and be uninhabitable.  Similar fates befit your trendy jackets, slacks and shoes.  They will all, in due course, wear down, wither and tear.


Despite our advances in technology and medicine man still faces this fateful foe.  An enemy who's shadow is always at our door, seemingly one or two steps away from overtaking our homes.


Decay.


It is for this very reason the Spirit of God compels a man to get out of bed and pick up his briefcase and pen.  It is this enemy that a man seeks to triumph over when he puts on his work trousers as the sun is rising only to take them off after the sun has long past set.  And it is over this enemy indeed that he triumphs when every bill is paid, every mouth is fed and his family rests in a warm home.


Sweet Victory.



¹  Unless the Lord builds the house, 
those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord ^xwatches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

²  It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious ^ytoil;

for he gives to his ^zbeloved ^asleep.

   -Psalm 127:1-2