{"id":4601,"date":"2012-11-19T09:05:25","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T17:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=4601"},"modified":"2012-11-19T10:22:11","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:22:11","slug":"irony-happens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/11\/19\/irony-happens\/","title":{"rendered":"Irony Happens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/h6>\n

Here’s an irony, the likes of which Ecclesiastes gets it reputation:<\/p>\n

In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness<\/strong>.*<\/p>\n

I can just picture the old man, having seen so much that’s wrong with the world he just wags his head, eyes down, his long gray beard swishing across his chest. He’s seen so much that doesn’t compute, in the end it all just seems meaningless.<\/p>\n

The fact is, however, it’s not the end.<\/p>\n

Every life only sees a segment of the middle. In the end it all comes together, if we could live long enough to see it.<\/p>\n

This is irony: Life’s rules would predict one thing but then the opposite happens. It’s so common I’ve sometimes thought life’s not just full of irony, LIFE IS IRONY<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Seeing that it’s part of life at least provides a sense of detachment . . . and the wry smile that keeps us from going crazy.<\/p>\n

One of the things I like about Ecclesiastes is that it observes the world as it is, not how we think it should be. That’s true wisdom.<\/p>\n

It could also be true cynicism<\/em> (something Ecclesiastes is often misunderstood as\u00a0expounding). But a cynical view is not the whole picture either. True wisdom looks beyond even that.<\/p>\n

And faith, farther still.<\/p>\n

Note what shortly follows:<\/p>\n

Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God<\/strong>.**<\/p>\n

That’s faith: When I see one thing but know<\/em> another. When I accept that the facts are not all in, that the total picture is not yet finished.<\/p>\n

So, when I see things that don’t make sense, when irony almost seems the rule instead of the exception, I have to know that there’s a bigger story . . . that I’m only seeing some section in the middle.<\/p>\n

My vision may be limited, but my faith need not be.<\/p>\n

When irony happens, just smile.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture is still being painted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

* \u00a0Ecclesiastes 7:15
\n**Ecclesiastes 8:15 ff<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We see it every day, or almost, when wrong things succeed and right things don’t. But are we seeing the whole picture?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4601"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5074,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4601\/revisions\/5074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}