God Is In It

I had a long conversation today with two of my co workers about a variety of things pertaining to the world we live in.  Both of the individuals I was talking to are in their 50's and planning for retirement is very much on the forefront of their minds.  They taught me a lot about social security and just what you have to do to "earn" your piece of that pie.

We talked about unions and how they used to be really helpful to workers who were not being protected from injury and even death on the job.  Today, unions seem to demand the impossible from their employers and holler about it in the streets if they don't get what they want.  On the flip side, there are employers in large corporations who take more than they should out of greed for a cushy life.  How could one person take millions of dollars out of a corporation's pie when others are receiving hardly enough to get by?  What happened to good values,  love of others, and being fair and honest? I can see why hard working people could become outraged and protest under the protection of a union in that case.

Next, we discussed systems which pin the government against it's people, such as the health care system and taxes.  There are definitely systems in our world today which need changing and people know they need changing, but we've got ourselves into a rut where  those with the power to create change must take serious personal hits in order to do so for the greater good of a nation.  Thus, little can be done when everyone's hands are tied.

I have never been too into politics because discussing topics of that nature tend to upset me.  It seems like life is happier when I don't watch the news; when I go about my small town life doing my week-to-week things without worrying about the stock market, the nation's debt crisis, the war on Libya, and health care reform.  But, it's the world I live in and whether I like it or not, I must abide by the rules and try my best to navigate my way through the systems that have been established.

It seems to me that my years from the age of twenty to my present life have been a rude awakening to just how many things there are out there that affect adult life in this nation today.  I remember very clearly the day that I sat down with a health insurance agent for the first time to set up my health insurance underneath my employer's group plan.  When we were finished and I sat there feeling totally overwhelmed about how to pay for monthly premiums and understand exactly what it was that I was getting for that payment, the insurance agent said, "Now let's talk a little bit about life insurance."  "Life insurance?" I thought, "Isn't that what I just signed up for... something to protect my life?"  I was blown away that there was a completely separate system to insure my life, which was somehow completely unassociated with my health.   Just when I got one thing down, another manual was tossed in my lap.  

All these systems can sometimes make us feel like we are merely chess pieces on a board, being moved about as we try to stay afloat with all that is demanded of us in a chaotic world that has surprisingly never been so organized as it is now. Perhaps we are too organized.  We've been around long enough that there's a rule and a way for just about everything... it's knowing those rules and walking that way that's now the trial.

In the midst of our discussion, I thought about my faith in a God who's in charge of all this mess. Ultimately,  He's in charge... not Obama, not China, not our State tax collectors.  He made this world.  He knows the beginning from the end.  Knowing that, makes me have faith that everything that is established for our nation to operate  is to sustain a land of freedom.  We are free to live, work, pray, speak, own property, and drink out of water fountains no matter our race. We are a clever people, but nothing has been done here without the hand of God.  Therefore, I know that I can manage my way through insurance, taxes, investments, retirement, Roth IRAs, unions, war, paying for my children's college education, and the laws of the land.

I am thankful for this nation and those who have sustained it's rules so we could have order, but most of all, I'm grateful to know that there's a higher being directing it all.