Beyond Life’s Clichés

October 1, 2024

Jason Bonnicksen

The scene was the same almost every day. After scarfing down our lunches and rushing through the underground tunnels, we bolted back to our two-room suite at Walsh Hall. We had to get back, after all—the world might have stopped had we missed our daily dose of “As the World Turns.”

The year was 1988. Five of us shared a cramped, two-room suite upon the frozen tundra at the University of North Dakota—two freshman, two sophomores, and one junior. In one room, were our beds (all but one lofted above our desks); and in the other: one raggedy couch, a broken-down easy chair, and an old tube tv that teetered atop a tapped keg.

Afternoons were for classes and catching up with soaps; and after supper, we’d tune in to hear Brokaw’s nightly epistle. We’d hear stories of how the Soviet empire was collapsing; and how men like Bush, Quayle, and Dukakis were gonna save our nation. Life seemed normal if we awoke to the same routine; and so, went the “days of our lives.” (Face-plant!)

Life seemed simpler then; but perhaps maybe it just seemed that way. Because, even then, REM had just released its Top 40 hit: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).” Like today, we thought our world was on the brink of annihilation. And just like today, our nation placed its hopes in “the bold and the beautiful” — in pundits and politicians who, for months on end, auditioned to be the world’s “guiding light.”

Sometimes I long to go back to those days, only in part because life seemed simpler. There were fewer distractions, faith was a higher priority, and the vitriol was less hyperbolic. And just perhaps, life wasn’t as cliché as it is nowadays. Perhaps.

King Solomon once said,

"What has been, is what will be; and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 1:9, ESV

As it was in the 80’s, everyone today seems to be on edge, fearing the world might come to an end. It will someday; but no one, but God, really knows when that’ll be. Yet, every week, more YouTube videos flash across my feed with titles such as: “This Event Started The CLOCK!” Robert Breaker On the End Times in USA!” Headlines are over-sensationalized and dotted with fear. But the Word of God instructs us to fear not.

I know this is gonna seem more cliché than it already is, but the days of our lives will continue, and the world will continue to turn. The bold and the beautiful will continue to plan, scheme, and try to deceive us to believe that they’re our guiding light. But they aren’t, nor will they ever be. As followers of Jesus, we must hold onto the immutable truth that we have but ONE guiding light, and that’s our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse counsels us with this wisdom:

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”

Col 3:2–4, ESV

Beyond life’s cliché’s, there’s Jesus. He is “the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, (the One) “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8). Only when His Father decides, will the world as we know it end. Life might not always seem fine, nor normal, nor easy; but the world will keep on turning — despite the fear-filled, daily dispatches from fanatics coast-to-coast.

So, as it is, let me leave you with this: regardless of what we see on the Tube each day, “fear not” as the Good Word proclaims. Instead, put your hope, faith, and trust in the Lord Almighty. And until that great and glorious day when His Son returns, remember this: beyond life’s clichés, there’s Jesus. He has you. He has us. “He has the whole world in his hands.” Amen?