Last night, although a day late, I read the Declaration of Independence aloud to that of my family that was in town. If any document will try your linguistic abilities this one will! It's a tongue twister; the vocabulary of the eighteenth century is much higher than our typical, modern-day American lingo! But looking past the fancy words, I was struck by the weight and the seriousness of the document. The men who signed the Declaration were staking their lives, their fortune, and their honor (their reputation) on what they believed. Talk about conviction. I mentioned this to my family and we chatted briefly, contrasting their purposeful lifestyle with that of our pop culture, where the preoccupation seems to be largely with entertainment. It makes me wonder what it would have been like to live "back then."
I have also been reading Elisabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor, the account of some missionaries to South America in the 50s. She describes the culture of a fierce tribe of Indians, a people group that would turn most people off. They were killers. Yet the missionaries made it their goal to reach the Indians with the gospel of Jesus. One of the missionaries, Pete Fleming wrote, "I know that this may be the most important decision of my life, but I have a quiet peace about it."
I love the conviction of both the signers of the Declaration and of the missionaries to South America. I don't know that I'll ever live in as dramatic circumstances as they, but I hope that I'll live a significant life.
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