Three months ago we were enjoying one of our National Parks. It was wonderful, spectacular, special, and very, very crowded with other vacationers. Our stay was the longest we ever have, and we were able to see as much as we desired to see. It was wonderful! A precious gift to be there.
During our whole adventure, probably half of the people we saw were American and the other half were from around the world. As we began our days there it was completely different than when we visited ten years ago. Sadly, the culture has changed so very much since then to where common courtesy and manners are almost completely absent.
If we all have been paying attention to the culture of the world, we know that as a whole we are sliding into a very "me" type people.
Judges 21:25
"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
This scripture rang in my head every where we went when the people were careless, rude, and thoughtless. It was all “me me me me me me me!”
Frustration in God’s beautiful creation!
This trip, which we had waited for a very long time to enjoy, was becoming a burden. After a whole day of dodging others, and being seemingly invisible to many of them, we were mentally exhausted from dealing with all of it. Our very first day, and we found ourselves growing inwardly angrier and more bitter at “the people” who surrounded us every where we went. By that afternoon in the solace of our car we spoke about it, and realized we were not resting in the LORD as we dealt with all of this chaos among His beauty.
Change of plans.
From that moment we changed our thinking and our plans. We once again were resting in Him no matter the chaos we found ourselves. We would now begin to awake very early and get out to hike etc. before the major crowds were out and about. This helped enormously for our frame of minds, and we were able to have calmer mornings along with other people who had the same idea.
With our thinking changed we also gave our frustrations to the LORD as they happened, and considered these certain people and prayed for them as they continued any rude behavior. Considering these people in a godly manner reminded us that we are all sinners, and perhaps these people were not saved from their sins by Jesus' precious blood.
Praise the LORD for opening our hearts!
Each day was now different. The crowds were the same and the thoughtlessness of people, in general, continued, but we were able to truly rest in Him throughout each incident.
Matthew 5:45
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
Showers of blessings from God.
On one of our last days in the early morning before the crowds began to show up, we were enjoying a falls at an overlook, and were blessed by a child‘s words.
She was about eight years old, and she was with her father and smaller brother as they came up to the overlook deck in which we were standing. Well behaved, her joy and excitement bubbled over as she talked to her father all about the river and falls below.
Soon enough as she continued to look around, her head rose up and noticed that over the river chasm there was another cliff across the way like where we were all standing, and there were brightly colored clothes on the people on the other side. Her smiles became bigger as she joyously proclaimed to them as her family walked away,
“HELLO PEOPLE! HAVE A NICE LIFE!”
Out of the mouths of innocence I heard how we should be thinking. Praise the LORD for how He works in us!
People are sinners. There are those saved by God's grace who are sinners, and those who are not saved who are sinners. All of us made in His image. All of us should be regarded with respect, honor, and dignity.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
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To see exactly what we encountered, this is from our trip journal at the end of the first day in Yellowstone:
Interesting observations about people today, and we expect it to be the same for the remainder of the week:
First, there is just plain rudeness on the trails/boardwalks: there is enough room for two couples to pass with just a slight compression against each other, but opposite-direction people rarely give way at all, forcing us always to be single file, and if there are more than just a couple, then even being in single file they often would bang into us and many young people would be busy with their gadgets and walk into us!
People, including children, often ignore the signs to stay on the pathway for safety reasons and will tempt fate.
For all the warnings about keeping 75 ft or more from bison, too many people would get within 8-10 feet for photographs!
The narcissism is downright pathological; the vast majority of people have “selfie sticks” and take shots of themselves at every geyser or other attraction; it’s as if they cannot take a photograph without them being in it!
At the Inn, as we sat on the third floor balcony, children ranging from about 8 to about 14, from one family, raced back and forth from where we were sitting, to around the corner with their parents, who just watched them and laughed with them as they would hang a doll on a string down to the 2nd floor just to mess with people. It was a veritable race track as they ran from one side to the other, laughing and carousing — inconsiderate of all those like us who wanted to just sit and listen to the pianist and violinist/fiddler.
On the outside deck a toddler was allowed to play by the edge rail and a father grabbed her just as she was about to fall - a second later and the child would have been dead — what is wrong with people who allow children to play in such dangerous places!?!?!
Then there was a birthday party we saw as we looked from the 2nd floor balcony into the dining room. The birthday child was about 3- or 4-yrs old at the dinner table with mom and dad. and baby in a “suitcase” carrier on the 4th chair. The little boy had a kiddie DVD player standing on the table and he wore earphones as he watched the movie during dinner. The staff came over to sing “Happy Birthday” and the kid was oblivious to them as his mom kept taking his picture with the staff around him. His dad kept trying to get his attention to make him look up at the staff, but the boy wanted to watch his movie. Why in the world would parents let their child watch a movie at the dinner table?!?!?!
Thankful to have forgotten most of this!
As this world becomes more and more sinful, selfish, evil - we must remember our position in Christ, and in His strength, express grace and mercy when we interact with others.
Thank you, to the Piper, for your comment! :o)
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