Merry Christmas - Seasons and Trust

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”

Disappointment is the fruit of expectation. Life has a way of showing us how little is under our control. We are not necessarily owed what we think we are. The seasons themselves do what they want, without consulting us. We have had an unexpectedly temperate fall and winter so far here in northern Utah. On the farm, this has benefited our fall plantings. But the children (and the adults) expected snow by now. 

Today, I learned the words “ought” and “weight” derive from a very early, deep connection within the Germanic linguistic family, āgan and wegan, respectively. The past tense of āgan is āhte (ought) and it meant ownership or what was owed. It then evolved into the concept of duty or moral obligation. Wegan (weight) meant lifting or carrying (as in to “weigh anchor”). It then evolved into the concept of physical mass. Mass was commonly determined by how much it could lift on the opposite side of a balancing scale.

Faced with a world which seems to be other than it ought to be, trust means answering “Yes” to the question: “In the grand scale of things, are justice and mercy being properly weighed and balanced?"

Justice and mercy sometimes feel like they are benefiting others, but not us. In court, a defendant with a particularly unsavory attitude was sentenced. In the privacy of the Judge’s chambers, the young prosecutor vented to the Judge frustration over what he felt was excessive leniency given to the defendant. The Judge, an Oklahoma gentleman, smiled and calmly drawled, “That guy is being punished enough. Every morning that he wakes up, he has to be himself.”

In the advent of Christ, we see models of trusting. When young Mary learned she was to bear a son and call his name Jesus, she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.”

Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me.” He later prayed earnestly, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

At this season, while we don’t fully understand everything now, we trust that justice, mercy, and redeeming love are being given proper weight on the great scale. Through this trust, we find peace. From Peacefield, Merry Christmas!