Bicentenary
This month we remember that two-hundred years ago, on May 25, 1810, a group of men declared their freedom from Spain, although the actual independence was established six years later. While meditating a little about the history of our country, I remembered the following tale.
In the middle of a village there was a beautiful lake that gave life to all around it. The villagers used the lake as a meeting place and to enjoy its waters. The water in the lake came from the nearby mountains, and in that place there lived an old man that would take the time every day to clean the waters and purify them for the village. One day the village authorities, wanting to cut costs, ask themselves, “What good is it for us to pay an old man who lives all the way in the mountains, just to clean the water?” So they decided to not pay the man anymore. Time went by and the village started to deteriorate; the clean lake that once gave life became dirty and lifeless. When the authorities ask, “What happened? Why is this happening?”, one person realized that the change took place from the moment they decided to stop investing in a particular job that seemed meaningless. Quickly they commissioned the old man to return to cleaning the water in the mountains, and from that point, the lake slowly returned to it’s original state.
What happened? When they stopped investing in the small things, the result was the ruin of the village. And today, two-hundred years later in history, there are some things that we as Argentineans, have neglected. Let us enter into this new time as a country that takes care of the little things, so that what happened in the story does not happen to us. This is our responsibility, to take care of the principles that our nation was founded on. One of them says, “invoking God’s protection, the source of all reason and justice…”. That is something that we need to get back so that the consequences of neglecting this principle do not end up affecting our society.
Place God as your source for all reason and justice. In the bible we find a similar principle: the psalmist says in Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” Let us work towards building our society with these principles so that we may all enjoy the blessings of living with these truths.
God bless you.
David Olivera
Director and Pastor
YWAM- Corrientes