Heavy Metals ~ Putting away Our Past

On 5 August 2015, 3 million tons of toxic waste was spilt into the Animas river.  Iron, Lead, Zinc and Copper, deadly heavy metals, filled the water rapidly.  Fish choked in the Arsenic, Beryllium and Cadmium.  A terrible stench filled the air around the river, and just looking at the color of the water was enough to make your stomach turn.  By the end of the first day, the polluted water had reached New Mexico.

Who was the culprit?  An atrocity so potent as this was surely the doing of some villain.  Ironically, The Environmental Protection Agency was to blame.

The Gold King Mine is a suspended mine; it hasn’t been used for centuries.  Yet the EPA thought they would do some investigating to make sure the mine was ‘secure’.  Yes, indeed, the  mine was secure until the team began digging around to see just how secure it was.  That’s when all hell broke loose and the sleeping monster was unleashed.  

It’s not totally clear how this happened, but one thing is certain: In the name of security, the EPA jeopardized the security of an entire ecosystem.  Thousands of farmers, businesses, and civilians were affected.

In my own life, i have gone prodding around in the sealed up caverns of my past.  There are terrible things there in the dark—toxic things.  There are memories there, and regrets.  There is anger, bitterness, and hatred.  Those of us who have suffered atrocities have those pools of evils stored up in us somewhere.  The important thing to remember is: don’t go digging where you have no business digging.  Dealing with the past in general is a necessary exercise, but for those of us who have suffered extremely, sometimes it's best to leave well-enough alone.  That sort of past is a torrent, ready to rush down the mountainside and into the present.  It will choke your friendships, poison your dreams, and stink up your daily life.  Romans 12v2 says we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Let us strive to learn from our memories without dwelling on them constantly.  In matters of the heart, there is a way to dig too deep.

 "Christ Jesus has made me His own... Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think in this way." (Philippians 3v12-15)

 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43v18&19)


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