FINGERPRINTS OF THE DECADE (From the Archive)
A Dramatic Moment from TOTAL IMPACT Vol. 4 Issue 1 originally published in January / February 1996
If I were to rate the amount of time I spend being appreciative on a grand chart of the way I spend my time, it would probably fall somewhere between gardening and flossing. It’s not that I'm an unappreciative person, it’s just that I'm a person, and it's not really inbred in me to realize what I do appreciate until I'm not thankful at all about its counterpart.
As children, we obey to avoid pain. As teenagers; we make friends to avoid being social outcasts. As adults, we spend our days in well-adjusted vocations to avoid being on the Rikki Lake Show. Our lives are in serious danger of becoming, not an appreciation of what is glorious, but an avoidance of what is bad. We are not nearly as thankful as we are just plain sorry for everyone else.
Part of the reason that this generation is losing its tendency toward thankfulness could be that it is an offspring of the alternative. A generation that grew up on the Bradys fully expressed its disappointment when their family didn't turn out quite as normal. This "alternative nation" has been adamant in its angst and politically correct in its selfishness. But, somehow, in the middle of ti al, we have forgotten one thing.
We are leaving fingerprints.
Here, in the last half of the final decade of the second millennium, we have forgotten that as we gripe about the generations before us, we are creating the impression that will lead the one that follows us. We are leaving an intentional greasy fingerprint of bitterness and dissatisfaction for our children to base their lives upon. Distrust over our Righteous Indignation. Selfishness.
This alternative solution has produced more than music you couldn’t possibly skate to. It has produced a society where every single individual feels that they are bitterly alone and deserve something better. They are the alternative. To band together would be the antithesis of what being alternative is all about. So rather than do, the society simply is. But there is an alternative to the Alternative.
Selflessness and appreciation.
Just imagine if we replaced our inner hurt with other things that are already there. If we sought out that which we are already truly grateful for and allowed it to be the dwelling of our mind and spirit. If we truly appreciated those that we hold dear. Family. Friends. Influences.
At my place of work, we have seen several loved ones go to be with the Lord this past year and it has made us appreciate those we are blessed to have in our lives even more. But, it has also made us wonder. How many moments have we let slip by? How many friendships and relations have we slithered or muddled or complained through? How many days have we spent either being the hateful alternative or hating it?
We make speeches of desiring to know God without wanting to know those that He made who differ from our point of view. Shallum was the son of Josiah, who God called the most obedient King who ever lived or would ever live (now, that's a strong resume line). But, Shallum wasn't so obedient. He had the wrong idea of what it meant to follow God. He stored up riches for himself until Jeremiah, the prophet, came and told him the Word of the Lord, "(Your father) defended the cause of the poor and needy...Is that not what it means to know Me?”
We make it too difficult on ourselves when we focus on what we think we deserve. Jesus never whined through a life filled with injustices. Why? Because He knew that those trials could lead to triumph. He knew that those men who doubted Him could become His friends. And, more than anything, He knew that the unfair life He would lead would eventually lead yo our unfair freedom.
Now, thanks to His unselfish act, those fingerprints have given us a gift of eternity, the ultimate alternative. The question remains: will we covet those fingerprints selfishly to our chest, or will we commit to the most selfless and appreciative act of all, and allow them to linger on the world?
Next: The Complete TOTAL IMPACT Essays (1993-1996) — with hyperlinks to all 25 articles