Historical Fact for today
March 25, 1893
Toronto, Ontario . . . A Toronto cab driver was fined for driving on Sunday; $2 or 10 days in jail.
This historical fact used in the Our Canadian Trivia section for March 25 on the HOME page, shows how much things have changed in our culture. What was once considered an affront to our Christian heritage would today be ridiculed as being “old-fashioned” and “behind the times” and not just by non-Christians.
Our culture has seen many changes in both ethics and values over the years. Some have been for the good, some have not. We are bombarded daily by evidence of a further decline of our nation’s ‘Christian morals’. As our country reaches out to embrace the world’s population, we become more and more diverse in our thinking and doing.
The printed word – novels, magazine articles, short stories and essays – are not exempt from this trend and reflect the divergence within our nation.
How am I, as a Christian, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a teacher and a writer, called to react to this ever changing mosaic?
That’s not an easy question to answer. Some of the changes in our culture may be for the good and in line with God’s wish for our lives. Those I need to discern and embrace. Other changes are anti-God and these, too, I need to discern and then reject. It’s those in-between changes, those subtleties which creep into our lives and psyche, usually without our even realizing it, that are extremely difficult to discern and so become problematic. My role as mother, grandmother, teacher and writer are of little use there but it’s my role as Christian which should see me through. I say ‘should’ because I must confess that I sometimes neglect that part of my make-up and I independently try to make sense of all the changes around me. That’s when I run into trouble.
Only by staying tuned in to Christ in my life and the Holy Spirit’s workings through prayer and vigilance can I truly discern which changes I need to embrace. Then, and only then, can God use my other roles to further His kingdom.
March 25, 1893
Toronto, Ontario . . . A Toronto cab driver was fined for driving on Sunday; $2 or 10 days in jail.
This historical fact used in the Our Canadian Trivia section for March 25 on the HOME page, shows how much things have changed in our culture. What was once considered an affront to our Christian heritage would today be ridiculed as being “old-fashioned” and “behind the times” and not just by non-Christians.
Our culture has seen many changes in both ethics and values over the years. Some have been for the good, some have not. We are bombarded daily by evidence of a further decline of our nation’s ‘Christian morals’. As our country reaches out to embrace the world’s population, we become more and more diverse in our thinking and doing.
The printed word – novels, magazine articles, short stories and essays – are not exempt from this trend and reflect the divergence within our nation.
How am I, as a Christian, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a teacher and a writer, called to react to this ever changing mosaic?
That’s not an easy question to answer. Some of the changes in our culture may be for the good and in line with God’s wish for our lives. Those I need to discern and embrace. Other changes are anti-God and these, too, I need to discern and then reject. It’s those in-between changes, those subtleties which creep into our lives and psyche, usually without our even realizing it, that are extremely difficult to discern and so become problematic. My role as mother, grandmother, teacher and writer are of little use there but it’s my role as Christian which should see me through. I say ‘should’ because I must confess that I sometimes neglect that part of my make-up and I independently try to make sense of all the changes around me. That’s when I run into trouble.
Only by staying tuned in to Christ in my life and the Holy Spirit’s workings through prayer and vigilance can I truly discern which changes I need to embrace. Then, and only then, can God use my other roles to further His kingdom.