The Edge of 17

This is a song called The Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. She eloquently sings:

                         The clouds never expect it when it rains

                          But the sea changes colors but the sea does not change

  And so, with the slow graceful flow of age I went forth with an age old

  Desire to please on the edge of seventeen

Who knows what she really meant but I see something behind and beyond the edge of 17. The more things stay the same the more things change. Rain is not predictable but a change in the weather is. Years go by and the ocean accepts the rain without question. Maybe we are the ocean desiring to please the rain. That’s deep stuff for this little Mu Cha Cho. I was there so many years ago, on the edge of 17 and at that time nothing really mattered.

Did I get it right? Do I understand what she wrote? Maybe or maybe not. At 17, I was trying to understand me. I wanted to understand my parents. The world was so small in those days. I can’t believe how little I cared about. How little I knew. I was buried in the school system. I worked a part time job. My brothers and I lived at home. Who knew that beyond 17, I would see my parents split. I moved out. School was really over. I did not see anything beyond the edge of 17.

Fast forward to 2016. We are all living on the edge of 2017. It’s like déjà vu all over again. How little I know. I still don’t understand my parents. Me? Oh, my I’m still lost. I have walked a mile in my parent’s shoes so that might be something. 17-year-old kids are nuts!!! I care too much about the world falling apart. It sure looks that way from this edge of 17. A full-time job makes you wish you were 17 again. On the edge, with not a care in the world.

The other day I asked my son where hope is found on the edge of 2017? He said there is no hope, you just have to make it through. I think that is where we stand today. Social media has changed things. I have heard more despairing talk this year than ever before. Maybe because of increasing social media. The term F… 2016 is popular. I see a few posts looking forward to the other side of 2016 but they seem weird. Were in a weird place.

What does God have to say about hope? Romans 5:2-3 says “through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.” We have kicked religion out of the culture. We now have no hope on this edge of 17. I find that fascinating because when I was 17 there was no hope, religion, or God. There was just the edge of 17.

I believe God will save us. He will deliver us from evil. It’s just not today. We need not fear. Just do what must be done. It sounds like I’m 17 again. The rain will come and the wind will blow, yet here we stand enduring it all. That is life. That is the way it has always been. There is hope of better things. Yet, we tend to look forward to the future. To heaven, utopia and a day that our ship comes in, but that is past the edge of 17.

I stand today on the edge of 17. What will this new year bring? Because of the internet, it appears many have died this year. Is it different than any other year? Looks that way but who knows. We have large tax increases in Canada coming like a stream train. Another string of deaths within the famous. I bet the infamous are dying too. Will the economy turn around? Will Russia and terrorist groups leave people alone? So many questions on this side of 17.

I want to leave 2016 on a good note. I am healthy. I have a job. I have friends and family. Things are good. I suppose 2016 was not good for some. Is it like that every year? Yet, we are expected to hope for better. We should strive for the best of times. Will we ever see those kinds of times again on the other edge of 17? I hope so. I had a good year. I hate it that others did not. It’s my wish to us all that 2017 will be a good year. Maybe if we pray for a good year it might be. Let’s start off the edge of 17 with a little sunshine instead of rain and let’s see what happens.

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