Our Shenandoah Moment

No matter how diligently we try to avoid controversy and hard choices, eventually they overtake us. It is another paradox of life that even refusing to choose one way or another often means to have made a choice, and in so doing to endure even greater harm. This is not new. Our ancestors going back to the beginning have dealt with hard decisions. What can their choices teach us? 

Exodus 1:8-10; 1 Samuel 23:15-18; 2 Samuel 2:8-11, 3:6-21; 1 Kings 2:5-6; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Romans 12:14-13:15; Ephesians 6:10-19

Scene from Shenandoah, 1965 film starring James Stewart. Imaged by Heritage Auctions, HA.com.

Music: “Shenandoah,” Mitch Miller and The Sing-Along Gang, The Essential Mitch Miller, Columbia/Legacy 2014.