Even Though...
Every year I write a Christmas letter - though it rarely gets out before the new year - and this year while recounting the year's adventures, I had this thought: how many of us put an "even though," at least in our musings if not the actual text, as we reflect on what the last year has brought? "Even though... I lost a brother-in-law ...finances are tight ...I've been overwhelmed by work ...my arthritis has been acting up and slowing me down ...I'm so upset by the terror and turmoil in the world …I find myself fearful and doubtful...."We're resolved to carry on
But starting with an implicit or explicit "even though" reveals something about us. And that is found in what - also implicitly or explicitly - follows: "even so" or "yet." We're resolved to carry on, to keep praying and hoping, to make the necessary adaptations, and not be defeated by the negatives in our lives. And to our surprise, we're ok, doing all right, or a bit mysteriously, happy and/or at peace. We Christians have a long heritage of this pattern. The psalmists and the prophets, over and over in vivid language and imagery lift their complaints to God and recount the punishments being visited on their people, and in the genius of the psalmist-prophetic tradition, remind God of the divine power and mercy and past rescues from their tragedies or their foes. Inevitably, they conclude with a word of confidence that God will do as God always has done. Thus, the prophet Habbakuk says:The fig tree has no buds, the vines bear no harvest, the olive crop fails, the orchards yield no food, the fold is bereft of its flock, and there are no cattle in the stalls. Even so, I shall exult in the Lord and rejoice in the God who saves me. (3:17-18)
Maya Angelou writes of her grandmother, who at crisis times would tell her family in particular or the world in general, "I will step out on the Word of God. I will step out on the Word of God."