From Yesterday to Today… A lot has happened. Nothing is the same. Everything seems to be different. What we believed in yesterday (and the past), is reviewed under a different light today. What’s illegal, is legal, wrong is now right, bad is okay, and good is wrong… Culture, politics, technology – everything changes. Sometimes you go with the flow of change, and contrast your present to the past, and wonder what the future will be like.
Contrast.
The striking difference between the two things. Yesterday as opposed to today. Youth to age. Darkness to light. Hot to cold. Good to bad. And every so often, it’s more than the obvious poles of difference, you mix in other views… Windows vs MAC vs Chrome. The list is absolutely endless!
Contrasting was something I learned in Language Arts, Math, Science, and a host of other subjects. Equally, it's learning that not everything stays bad all the time. In spite of what you're facing, there is a good day coming. Soon! Click To TweetIn action, we compare and then contrast things that are often diametrically opposed. This is how we buy things. You may like this about that, but prefer that over this!
Contrasting Life
Some want to live close to clutter (malls, restaurants, etc.), and others (me) want to live far from civilization! From time living in Alaska, I would compare and contrast winter and summer. The obvious is easy. Temperature. Weather elements. Visible light. Growing season. Snow. Sunshine. Darkness. This contrast might not notice the stress that is put on people who do not like the excessive darkness of winter or revel in the endless days of summer. However, this is a valid point to contrast!
During those early years, I did not like neighborhood kids knocking on the front door around midnight in the summer. Why? “Can the kids come out and play?” In Anchorage, the sun went down around midnight on the longest summer day of the year! So, we learned to live a normal schedule, even when days were longer than normal!
Being aware of the contrast may show the positive and negative of each item,
often comparing the extremes and putting them into a different perspective.
We may contrast the past against what is the present, but what about the future? We see the darkness as something evil and the opposite of light, but for the crops to grow there needs to be a season of dormancy. You need the contrast to survive to understand “where from” to “where to”.
It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground,
is smaller than all the seeds on earth;
but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs,
and shoots out large branches,
so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
(Mark 4:31-32 NKJV)
The smallest becomes large. What one could enjoy with the solace of shade, you realize the limbs are full of wild birds.
Think It Through
I’m a thinker, and if you are reading this, then you are probably the same way. You like to pick up the loose ends of life, look at it from every angle, and find the way through our struggles we see the light at the end of that proverbial tunnel.
Contrast where you are, and where you can be. Down the road. Hence, you get the idea of the potential of the future based on your present life.
Put yourself into the perspective of the contrast. From nothing, something. From a seed, a tree. What you’ve experienced yesterday, and where you are today. Plant the seed, give it time, nurture the growth like crazy, then allow it to blossom.
Yet, with all the contrasting viewpoints you may contrive, you must still compare the results. It’s not just about noticing the differences. It’s more about finding your comfort zone once you compare the possibilities. You may be aware of the contrasts, but you truly need to compare their differences.
Spiritual Concept
It’s not new news. But sometimes we need to be reminded. When you face bad times, good times will eventually show up. Before the day, you must face the night. As you go through good times, you are preparing for the potential downtimes. This thought brought a song to my heart that was written not long after we married.
Contrast
Before every victory, there’s a battle to fight.
Before every sunrise, one must live through the night.
Before the grave bursts open on a resurrection morn,
There’s a hill to be climbed and a cross to be borne.
Into the ground, a grain of wheat is fallen and is dead,
But on some tomorrow the hungry will have bread.
My sails were torn. my little boat tossed helplessly at sea,
But how else could I have learned that he’d rescue one like me?
Jesus! Jesus! You know what’s best for me.
Lead on, Jesus, I’ll go wherever you lead.
By Joan Ewing, 1978
One more thought…
Jesus contrasts that tiny mustard seed to the request for more faith.
And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
(Luke 17:5-6 NKJV)
It does not take a lot of faith to get through your night. With your faith, though very small, you have the ability to accomplish amazing results. Contrast. From small things, come big victories. On the other side of every night is a day waiting to blossom.
Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
(Psalms 30:5 NKJV)
If you have read and remembered me from other posts, I cannot help but add…
I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
(Psalms 37:25 NKJV)