Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost*
Growing up, Girl Scouts was the perfect outlet for an over-achieving girl who thrived on learning new things and getting a brightly colored new patch when she mastered them. This was my life and childhood identity. And each patch-earning ceremony, I proudly donned my vest, held up my three fingers, and pledged things like courage, honor, and character. And, while I very much still stand by these things, the Girl Scout definition of courage, honor, and character has been re-written all these years later, and that little innocent girl is left behind on stage, still holding up my three fingers in the Girl Scout honor and clutching my hard-earned patches. But that girl is also shedding a tear for another reminder of the loss of my childhood as the new generation of Girl Scout leaders celebrates women who no longer define honor and character in the way I understood them as a child.
In a recent article by Austin Ruse of Breitbart.com entitled, "Endorsement of Wendy Davis Triggers Boycott of Girl Scout Cookies," he writes,
"A few weeks ago, the Girl Scouts designated Wendy Davis as an “incredible woman” who deserved to be on the list of 2013 “Women of the Year.” Only a month earlier, the organization promoted Kathleen Sebelius as a woman of “courage” on its Facebook page. Davis is not known for much more than exaggerating her life story and for her filibuster of a pro-life bill in the Texas legislature. Her critics point out that the bill she filibustered was one that limited abortions after viability. Kathleen Sebelius has been the bête noir of the pro-life movement for her role in Obamacare and mandating abortion coverage even for religious entities, what some Catholic bishops have called the largest expansion of abortion in the country since Roe v. Wade."**
And in my mind, I struggle to reconcile the advancement of women through the abortion of children. The innocent Girl Scout in me feels defiled that these are the women held up as an illustration of all the things I once held dear. They do not represent me or my ideals of honor, beauty, courage, and innocence. Celebration of women and girls through the destruction of their life and bodies seems counter-intellectual, even if it is in the name of my "personal freedom."
Perhaps Robert Frost was right to lament, "Nothing gold can stay." Yes, "Nature's first green is gold/, her hardest hue to hold [...] So Eden sank to grief,/ So dawn goes down to day." But isn't this issue with my Girl Scout disillusionment only a microcosm of the bigger reality? We have little "Edens" that "sink to grief" each day. Not all of them touch us as acutely, but the hard truths of life seem to be that disappointment is inevitable. And sometimes it is so difficult to lift our heads from these crushing blows and find any hope at all. In fact, sometimes hope just feels like a balloon we blew up ourselves and too much honesty is sure to burst it.
However, even as our little "Edens" sink, the believer is not called to despair. We grieve a little while that something we love is gone, but we also look to our Unchangeable One and find such permanence there. We find that the Jesus of our childhood has not changed his standards of what is right or good or beautiful. Instead, he has proven himself through the ages, and even though our gardens of innocence are lost, we find a promise that our sorrow is not for nothing. Instead, the rubble of all our little Edens becomes the very foundation of a new city... a new Jerusalem-- one in which we will walk with our good Savior on streets paved with the lasting gold of our refined offerings to the Lord.
Yes, this is the promise and the hope that fills our balloons, that allows us to get up from our sorrowful positions, and live with a lasting promise that goodness will prevail. The garden will be re-designed as a city, and my patches will be replaced with a crown. And all of this goes to the one who is victorious because of our conquering, consistent King!
Hear this promise ring true in a passage from Revelation 21:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children (verses 1-7).
*From The Poetry of Robert Frost edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1923, 1947, 1969 by Henry Holt and Company, copyright © 1942, 1951 by Robert Frost, copyright © 1970, 1975 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
**http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/29/Wendy-Davis-Triggers-National-Boycott-of-Girl-Scout-Cookies
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