The Ancient Landmarks

“Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.”

―Proverbs 23:10-11

Sonja and I are in Walhalla today to visit with mom and dad a couple days.  A few moments ago, I took a short stroll outside to walk around their yard. 

The azaleas are blooming and spring is in the air.  All very peaceful and beautiful; a lot of good memories here.  Mom and dad brought this property over 30 years ago. It was a tangled mess of briars, undergrowth, and vine-covered trees. They untangled it with their own hands, laboring days on end to wrestle from all the chaos a little piece of Eden.

Yes, a lot of hard work and good memories here. Sacred land for the Kemp family.

When I came back inside to pick up my bible reading (I am reading from Ruby C.’s bible currently) I wrote this in the margin beside today’s Proverb:

I believe you can press this a little more.  We should be wary of people who do not respect their own property. 

You can be sure that a society is in danger of collapsing when either happens. 

One of the signs of a culture in distress and decline is trash on the highways.  When people stop caring about our common property it means they have stopped caring about their fellow man and eventually they stop caring about themselves.

Junky yards, unkept lawns, run down houses, all these are signs of deeper declines. 

And remember this, when people steal from local shopping center, they are stealing from you.  Their theft is another way of desecrating the ancient landmark and chipping away at the rule of law and feeding chaos and violence.

Lately I am hearing more and more about “wealth distribution” and leveling the playing field and “paying your fair share.” (Who gets to decide that!?) Its easy to hate billionaires, but if history is any indication it will not just be a few billionaires whose wealth will be “distributed”, it will be yours as well.  And it will not be sprinkled equally among us all.  No, those doing the distributing will become the new billionaires.

(Having recently come back from a trip to Bulgaria, I saw the lingering results of “wealth distribution” and heard several very sad stories from decades of “communist utopia.”  All very sad.)  

Oh well, enough of that.  I’ve gotten a little political, something I try not to do.  Just remember this, “wealth distribution” and having a level playing field are usually just fancy terms for legitimizing stealing.  It may sound good until they come for your property. 

I’ll leave you with this: Clean yourself up.  Your body is the first property God gave you.  Carry it with dignity.  And then there’s your own corner of the planet.  Own it.  Take care of what is yours. Make it a reflection of your values and your high regard for God.  

And then don’t steal and desecrate the common property of your society and the private property of others.  And for the weak and fragile, be their defender.  Make sure they are safe and make sure that what is theirs remains theirs.  This pleases God.

The ONE THING for today: This has got to be a little of what Jesus meant when he said that we are the “salt of the earth.”  If we are not preserving the ancient landmarks eventually there will be nothing left to preserve.