Auld Lang Syne

It’s 4 days into the new year so I’m a little late. But, hey, I’m trying. I read an interesting article yesterday about the cancel culture we are now living in and how there is no room for forgiveness and mercy. I happened to write about that myself a while back. Go here to read that entry.

It was written by David French, a very good man, a great writer, a lawyer and he seems to have been pretty good at that, too. He was also in the US Army and deployed to a combat zone so that makes him a Veteran, too. He joined up to help us defend freedom in the world. Not a bad motivation, that.

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away…

He included this song which is a great version of Lord, I Need You combined with Auld Lang Syne. Auld Lang Syne means “A long time ago,” basically. And the song is about reminiscing, remembering fondly, a shared past with the unaddressed audience. It could be between two friends, or a family made up of many people. Maybe it’s a whole country and culture looking back at better days. Of course, better days from the past are rarely as wonderful as we remember them. We tend to highlight the good stuff and diminish the bad, for the most part. And that’s OK. It’s important to have a positive outlook on the future and the past.

But we cannot ever forget the bad stuff from the past or we really are doomed to repeat it. That’s a paraphrase of a statement attributed to philosopher George Santayana. I think it’s really true. If we don’t learn to reason, we can’t grow intellectually. If we don’t learn from past mistakes, we will never be wise. If we refuse to accept our guilt in things that go badly, we cannot repent and be forgiven; we won’t be saved that way.

Wisdom and Grace

So, let’s look back with some regret, for sure. But also, let’s look back with a lot of hope that we’ve learned a few things, that we’ve become wiser. And let’s acknowledge our mistakes or sins, and find comfort in that, if we’ve asked for it, we’ve received forgiveness.

And then let’s resolve to be better, to do better, to want more for our brothers and sisters and for ourselves. We share this wonderful world together and we owe it to one another to try to do those things. We can do it with God’s help. God, who is all good, all loving, all merciful, all powerful yet who loves us enough (more than anyone else ever could) to let us fall and then rise again. He is there to help us, He is there to give us grace.

Some things about God you should remember…

God gives us knowledge for He has given us the ability to reason. We just need to learn how to use it. God gives us wisdom. We just need to ask for it and be open to the means in which He will bestow it upon us. Sometimes it’s a beautiful moment we can’t miss; other times it’s a painful mistake we come to regret (and then repent of). Then His grace enters in. And God gives us the grace to forgive and to love those who persecute us. He gives us His love that fills our hearts to be able to do that.

God forgives us when we ask for forgiveness sincerely. We must realize we’ve hurt others, ourselves, and our relationship with Him. And then we move forward, smarter, wiser, and forgiven. We are better able to handle all that comes after then. In the aforementioned song, the lyrics say that we will “take a cup of kindness,” basically ‘for old time’s sake.’ We can drink of the cup of God’s compassion for His sake and for the sake of humanity. Kindness is the result of compassion. Compassion looks with love on others and realizes that, because of humanity’s pride, we are all broken and all in need of a Savior. We are, indeed, created equal, created in the image and likeness of our God. He is compassion Personified, in Three Persons, actually. God is our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A blessed Trinity. Let us ask the Triune God to fill us with His grace, mercy, which come from Divine love. Let’s take up this cup of kindness, for the sake of all humanity and for God. Only good can come of that.