In the Gray

We live in a world with an increasing climate of moral relativity. Society wants to rationalize and humanize and neutralize any truth that holds itself up as absolute. Our rights and wrongs have become luke warm maybes while we have elevated the concept of tolerance to such a point that it has become our most coveted principle. Thus, almost anything is acceptable if there is someone to argue that it corresponds to their belief or value system. In such a world, it's no wonder that everyone drives over the speed limit. It's no wonder that people cheat, from elementary students to executives of the nation's largest corporations. So it's no wonder that an entire generation doesn't care, and doesn't feel obligated to any consistent standard of obedience. Somewhere between the black and white of our traditional Judeo-Christian values, we have a growing sea of gray where truth and ethics have been watered down until they are essentially impotent. However, even though we may disregard traditional values, the absolute truths of right and wrong still exist. They were written upon our hearts, poured into creation itself, long before the Ten Commandments were inscribed upon the tablets of stone. Even if we ignore the lines of morality, they are still exist. We can white wash them. We can attempt to sweep them under the rug. We can even pass laws declaring elements of "The Law" to be invalid or fallacious. Yet truth, real truth, cannot be voted out, even by a popular majority. God always trumps ethical relativism. Color within the lines, drive within the lines, live withing the lines. Even if we erase the lines, we still know where they should be ... and so does God.

In The Gray
Men of God, we must be careful
In the choices made each day
That they will honor and not haunt us
We dare not dabble in the gray
There is black and white and wrong and right
But somewhere in between
Falls the no man's land where we must guess
At lines that are unseen
And herein lies the challenge
We must face throughout each day
For in the end what makes a man
Is how he fares within the gray
When the path is clear and weather fine
The choices seem so too
But life is often not so plain
Nor are we ever through
We must analyze our options
Never giving caution rest
So as to discern what may be good
From what may be the best
For if we let our guard down
We make choices we regret
And the options which seem gray to us
Can be the greatest threat
Sometimes we fudge to make a profit
So sure they'll look the other way
And since no one ever will find out
What matter if we stray
Everybody bends the rules a bit
So all seems well and fine
But we forget that, even in the gray
God can see the line
By Frank Carpenter ©