Settling the America’s back
in the early 1600’s was nothing less than “extremely difficult.” Those that arrived from the shores of England
were excited at the possibilities in this new land. While some likely anticipated hard times, I
wonder if they really understood what they would be facing.
As it turned out, drought on
the East Coast caused food to be in short supply, not only for the colonists,
but also for the Indians. Hunger and
hard times can cause even the most rational person to have only thoughts of
survival, and caused additional tensions with the Natives. Along with drought conditions and tropical
humidity, the colonists had mosquitos and flies to contend with. Follow this with a bitter cold, cruel winter, historians call “The Little Ice Age,” the colonists were severely tested.
Winters were hard on the pioneers as cold wind whistled
through the cracks of their homes and down chimneys. But
they remained, facing hours, even days inside their homes. Today’s world, even with a vicious snowstorm,
rarely leaves people in their homes for long. With snow plows and salt trucks
on the scene, most everyone is out and about on the highways going to work,
school or even just out enjoying the beautiful white landscape in a day or
two.
That said, last winter, especially
up in New England, there was so much snow, people who enjoy the snow and are
relatively used to the frozen, ice crystals, found themselves housebound! In some areas they had over 150 inches of the
white powder. Some lost electric, but even this was only a huge inconvenience
with the use of generators, enabling most life habits to continue undeterred.
Early settlers had limited access to
the outside world since television and the Internet weren’t yet introduced. They
had the need to entertain themselves and each other in creative ways to keep
the “walls from closing in.” Children
would play with hand made toys, women would sew and quilt, while men would
finally find time for sharpening saws, whittling or doing chores. It was also the time when a fiddle, harmonica
or other handmade musical instrument would be pulled out and played to pass the
time away. It was also a time for
reading, primarily the Bible since this was the most available text for many
families. It was a time of family closeness
both physically and emotionally.
In today’s world, often the greater our accessibility to
“things,” the greater and extravagant our desires become. We frequently no longer desire the company of
our family, but choose to communicate with our friends, who we may only know
via the Internet causing face to face communication to become difficult. The
skill for full personal conversation has deteriorated to the point of nearly
non-existent, especially within families, creating breakdown of family unity.
We all have the need of family and
friends to sustain us. Whether it is
boredom or excitement filling our days; we as humans, want to be part of
something greater. It is by God’s design
we need each other and even greater than this is the desire of communication
with Him.
When God is our first desire, we
will have fulfillment like no other. It
doesn’t mean the “cold winds won’t blow into our home.” Nor does it mean families won’t sometimes run
into disagreement. But when we communicate with God, we can find unique
peace in His love, which will spill over onto those we love.
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