Thoughts of Glory

Luke 17:23 Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Both of our parents lived through the depression. Chuck's parents were in their early 20's and my parents were teenagers.  Chuck's dad at age 24 had been hundreds of miles away from home and on his own for 9 years. The Williams lived in the Waggener(Chuck's maternal grandparents) home in Vicksburg and the two families lived together until the Waggener's drew their last breath.

My dad was living on a farm in Clifton, LA with his parents and 10+ siblings. My mom lived with her widowed mother and 3 siblings in downtown Tylertown, MS.  My maternal grandmother ran a boarding house just down from the Railroad depot to provide for her family. My mother was four months old when her father died in the  flu epidemic.

My mom was working from the time she was 13, my dad worked on the farm and Mr Williams worked as brick layer by the time he was 15. Mom Williams was probably the most affluent of the four but not wealthy.

The 1920's were considered the "Roaring 20's". Wikipedia says this about the early 20's. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity, a break with traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies, especially automobiles, moving pictures and radio proliferated 'modernity' to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality, in architecture as well as in daily life. At the same time, amusement, fun and lightness were cultivated in jazz and dancing, in defiance of the horrors of World War I, which remained present in people's minds.

The Roaring twenties came on the back of the WWI victory and America was riding high economically with huge technological breakthroughs. For the most part Christian values were being layed aside and materialism was rampant.  Americans were eating, drinking, buying, selling etc etc and forgetting where their blessings came from and throwing practicality to the wind.  There seemed to be an attitude like Nebuchadnezzar who looked across his kingdom and said "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" 

Well just as Nebuchadnezzar lost his position for a season, America had the rug pulled out from under her in 1929. I don't think there was anyone who was not affected. However, some were able to adapt more than others. Many families ended up homeless and living on the street. Some could not face their loss and jumped to their death.

My mother-in-law, the most affluent of our family, was probably the most conservative. I watched her scrape every minute bit of butter off the wrapping every time she made a cake. Most all of the furniture they had in the house was pre-depression and it was cared for very well.  She had very little patience with extravagance or waste and yet always saw to it that her children & grandchildren had the necessities.

Well, in our family three more generations have been born since 1929 and it seems Americans have come full circle. The signs are all around us and yet personal debt is at an all time high in order to satisfy the insatiable appetite for things. A huge amount of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness and yet have no understanding that there is a difference between want and necessity. My husband remembers his family getting a bill in the morning and sending him with the money that afternoon to pay it. But he never had a bedroom to himself or had his own car while in their home.  He had some wants and all necessities met and had a happy childhood. 

I have worked since I was 13 until 4 years ago. My grandmother who lived with us when I was young had a garden that produced a huge amount of the food we ate.  I too never had a car and I worked to pay for all my school clothes after I became a teenager.

As I sat in the Malls this past Christmas in a time that many have no jobs or their jobs are shaky, the dollar's value is way down and personal and government debt is at an all time high, I became almost frightened for the masses.  I got the revelation that most do not have a concept of doing without for the greater gain. In the former generation they knew the people they owed. Now it is just some corporation with no familiar face so it seems easier to not pay them what we owe and keep on spending.

Please, I am not judging, I am very concerned.  When our children were small we were so much in debt that we had to sell our home and lived on a very tight budget.  It took us a number of years but we were able with the grace of God to get out of debt except for a mortgage. Our sons did have cars and we paid for special school for one and a college education for the other. We were not always wise in our spending but for the most part we have learned to live conservatively. Everyone is always tempted by impulsive spending and we all fall into that trap at times, but we can't make it a lifestyle without extreme consequences. 

I personally believe we are headed toward another depression. We have a little time left to prepare. Those our age will probably be more prepared to survive just because of the enviroment in which we were raised.  I watch some of the older generation shopping and they look at the things on the selves and evaluate each purchase.  We all need to ask the Lord to help us prepare mentally, spiritually and financially for what is ahead so that we will be in a position to not only survive but to be a blessing.