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Figuring it out

A gentleman who rides the same bus as I, is an avid history buff. He reads constantly and any conversation usually centers around that topic. One morning he told me his latest focus is on “The Age of Enlightenment.

A gentleman who rides the same bus as I, is an avid history buff. He reads constantly and any conversation usually centers around that topic. One morning he told me his latest focus is on “The Age of Enlightenment.” He threw out a few “why” and “what if” questions while I mused on what might have been different in both the scenario and the outcome. I do remember enough of my high school history to know that it was “a time of dramatic upheaval in the disciplines of science, religion, philosophy and politics.” (Huff Post)

Since my daily bus ride offers me lots of quiet time, I continued musing on that topic and then moved on to the start of the 20th century. What, if anything I asked myself, could have been done to change the situations leading to World War 1, the Great Depression and World War 2? Although I don’t have the ability even to pretend that I have an answer, I do know what an impact it continues to have on my in-laws who lived in Europe at that time. As well, I recall men going off to war and then, the raw emotional upheaval in the lives of the families of those who did not return.

I couldn’t help but recall some of the battles we all face continually, as do people of every time and place: pain, suffering and disappointments, among other things. “Why?” What if?” we continue to ask but often without answers. I love how the song-writer Charles Albert Tindley (1905) responded.

“Bye and bye, when the morning comes. When the saints of God are gathered home. We’ll tell the story of how we’ve overcome. We’ll understand it better bye and bye!”

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face….” (1 Corinthians 13:12)