A call to (f)arms
Introducing: Peasant Life Co-Author, Hambone
I can be President. I’m not, but I could be. This potential for authority creates a false self-image in my mind. And this fiction burdens me with responsibility.
But if I assume this responsibility, without occupying a position with the authority to exercise it, I’m setting myself up for discontent. My opinion on the topic du jour doesn’t manifest itself in reality. If I’m very angry about my nations approach to universal healthcare and I do not have any authority to address the issue (or the intent to acquire any), I’m giving myself heartburn for a chili cheese dog I didn’t eat.
There’s this implicit pressure in life where, because I can hypothetically be important, I need to bear the burden of concern that would accompany my aristocratic rise.
God can raise me above me humble station. So can hard work or Lady Luck. But until I sit in the throne, I won’t sweat the crown. Normalize your responsibility to your true and present authority. Consign the rest to God.
My first job out college, using my degree, was that of a local TV news producer in Savannah, Ga. It was incredible and I wouldn't take it back, for I learned many important lessons along the way and made real friendships.
But after a while I realized that I was physically being weighed down by the world’s problems as a result of the demands of that job. Daily shootings, gruesome child abuse cases, hurricanes and of course Covid all made their way into my mind and I had a constant notion that I had to do something about ALL of it.
Of course, none of this was true and by God's grace he brought to my attention my obsession over these things and reminded me, over time, that I need only tend what was given to me. Why would I stress about overcoming the world when Christ has already done so?
Praise be to God.
Glad to be doing more digging into the Dispatch. Good work, gents.