appear on the stage or a politician to appear at a rally. The excitement comes from the expectation of some moving experience we will have.
But what if the ‘appearance’ is a moment of judgment? The one who appears comes to make a decision that will affect our lives. For that there is apprehension, not excitement. For many days people have been talking of the ‘Gono issue’ by which they mean which way will the chairman jump? Will he devalue or not? In the event he entered and he left and nothing changed. Some say it was a political decision not an economic one. He was not going to do the orthodox thing and be seen to bow to the IMF and ‘the west.’ Others say he is waiting to introduce a new currency and that would somehow solve the problem. Whatever the reason, his ‘entrance’ seems to have left us just where we were before.
2 February closes the Christian cycle of feasts about the manifestation of the Messiah which started with Christmas. This celebration, 40 days later, marks the moment when Jesus ‘suddenly enters’ (Malachi 3:1) the temple in Jerusalem. It is a moment that deeply affects an old man who had waited all his life for this ‘entrance.’ Simeon rejoices to see the ‘light of the nations’ finally come, but he also knows that his coming will mean a time of decision; ‘he is destined for the fall and the rising of many’ (Luke 2: 28).
After all the waiting, all the yearning for things to change, a decisive instant will come. Important decisions, either personal or national, cannot be put off indefinitely. The longer we try to postpone them the more painful the inevitable results will be. When tough decisions have to be made it is best to face them. Whether it is Bush in Iraq, Gono in the Reserve Bank or any one of us facing a painful truth about our situation, a moment will come which will give a worse result than the one we would have had if we had grasped the moment in time.
Post published in: News