70 years on ….

A Fateful Day

6th February 1952. This fateful day, out in Kenya, and in a now famous ‘Treetops hotel’, ushered in a remarkable era. And a remarkable life for me too, born a few weeks later, in the neighbouring country of Tanzania.

From that fateful day on, the Elizabethan era encompassed the lives of people in Britain and the Commonwealth of countries – 56 in all and home to 2.5 billion people.

Historical Markers

Historical dates have marked many a life both on the global and personal front ever since the beginning of time. We can all remember just where we were at and how life was affecting us at any given historical event.

On the global front, February 1952 marked a revolutionary shift of duties and responsibilities, power and wealth for the famous Queen. Personally, my family’s life was marked by drastic events leading to years of hardship for my parents. The loss of first my grandma and soon after my grandpa, brought much grief to the whole family, added to which an unwise business decision was made which changed my father’s destiny forever.

Ever since then, life for our family has been overshadowed by both these remarkable global and personal events.

Destiny

Destiny provides our markers through many such circumstances and builds the framework upon which our lives are tethered, buffered up with choices and challenges as well as a great deal of blessings and joy.

Though the majority of us fall in the far-off shadows of remarkable global figures such as the Queen of England, we are bound by the same principles of destiny, historical markers, tradition and belief systems – and the One who holds all things together in His hands.

Every Knee Shall Bow

Before Him every knee shall bow – as did the Queen of England’s when she ultimately had to relinquish her sceptre, crown and orb and bow down before Him for eternity, on the 8th September 2022.

I wonder what objects of ‘power, earthly acclaim and status’ you and I will need to relinquish when we, too, finally bow our knees ….

Those gazillion life dramas, in between, would seem like but a mist in the sands of time when we finally come to this momentous peak of our existence on earth.

Destiny, – oh how commanding you are; how steady, steadfast and unrelentingly sure.

70 years on …. a toast in honour of those remarkable years, – and for some principles that never change.