Channels

"The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:27-28)

Civilizations come and civilizations go. Empires come and go. Nations come and go. God is present through it all. Through our building up and our breaking down - in our individual lives and in the lives of our societies. Yesterday we saw things that humans built in the last 2,000 years. A Roman aqueduct, arena, theater, ancient forum, a beautiful medieval church and cloisters, and the town that has grown up around them over the centuries. I wonder about the lives of those who lived in each era. What challenges did they face? What joys did they experience? Were they builders or destroyers, or both? What do we remember of them, and do our memories do justice to the complexity of their lives?

I do not know what of my life will be remembered 10, 100, 1000 years after I die. I hope, though, that to the extent I am remembered at all it is for being a builder and not a destroyer.

The Pont du Gard was built in the first century CE to carry water to Nîmes, because it had outgrown the ability of its own spring to supply its needs. Our world is desperate for love and healing. May I be a channel bringing love and healing from its infinite source to the dry places.

Pont du Gard, the highest Roman aqueduct in the world (almost 50 meters)

Another part of the aqueduct - here you can see the channel through which water flowed

Columns in the Roman theater, Arles, France

The Arena in Arles is still used today (not as well preserved as the one in Nîmes, but still impressive!)

Inside the arena

Former Roman forum, now a bizarre underground art gallery

12th-14th century cloisters, Arles