02 May 2013

alone along the way...

linking up with emily over at imperfect prose today...


you probably know he hasn’t forgotten about you, but sometimes it feels like he has anyway, doesn’t it? the promise you’ve held close has withered and grown cold; the vision, the dream, the hope that burned like prometheus’s gift, now sits abandoned, like a bonfire on the beach that has been doused by the tides.


it’s easy these days to find empty promises, slick slogans to attempt to jumpstart your faith. it’s as easy as sowing a faith seed, speaking your promise into being, thanking God for what he’s going to allow your faith to manifest. we are encouraged to become our own personal witch-doctors, conjurers of a reality that isn’t real at all. at least not yet.


the alternative, though more real, and i would daresay more God-honoring, is decidedly more painful, too. the alternative is simply to wait, to sit, to try to stand, to ignore the voices in your head telling you that you were wrong, it’s too late, death really is the end.


it’s alright that it feels like he’s forgotten you. Jesus felt that way, too, and he doesn’t condemn you for your doubt, for your despair, for your questions. he’s been there, and it’s okay.

being in the shit, as it were, is not tantamount to being in the wrong place, unless of course joseph and daniel and mary and john and jesus found themselves in the wrong place, too. the harrowing reality is that the right place for us may sometimes also be the hardest place for us. this is the eternal truth of life coming from death, dawn breaking from dark, gain borne from loss.

you probably know he hasn’t forgotten about you, but sometimes it feels like he has anyway, doesn’t it? i know. me, too...

11 comments:

  1. Poignant, strong and right on.

    I enjoyed this. I think I'll read it again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks, Lance. i was feeling particularly pitiful this morning, and all of a sudden this all dribbled out of me. it's always tricky (for me) to find the balance between sharing the journey and throwing up online.

    thanks for taking the time to read and comment... - s.

    ReplyDelete
  3. More times than not actually.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i think you're right. and, truth be told, i think that this reality is more in line with the majority of the world, and with the majority of those who have gone before us in the faith.

      it's an interesting phenomenon here in christian america that we are so often told that we can have everything we want now, when the greater witness of scripture and saints past is that our greatest hope is in the 'not yet'.

      without question God is the giver of good things in this life, but more than this, we are a people who are called to look ahead to that time when all things are made new, even while everything around us now falls apart.

      one foot in front of the other, friend...

      Delete
  4. Love it. You are great with the written (and Spoken) word.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you are too kind. but i'll take it. - s.

      Delete
  5. Dear Steven
    This is my first visit to your blog and I am pleasantly impressed!! Yes, my friend, if we are not encouraged to be our own witch doctors with the name of Jesus, our magic wand, we are taught to fight all those nasty creepy crawlies; the demon of illness ... poverty ... addiction ... anger ... (and in my case) Fibromyalgia/CFS, etc, etc, etc! Oh, my our Pappa God open our eyes to see the Wonder that is God!
    Blessings from Emily's.
    Mia

    ReplyDelete
  6. this is good, powerful stuff.

    hold fast, brother.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He can handle it all. So thankful. He understands it all (Hebrews 4:15). So thankful. God bless. Coming to you via Imperfect Prose.

    ReplyDelete
  8. YES. this is gospel. with all of the shit thrown in, YES. Jesus is in the hard place. Amen.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous25 May, 2013

    Hello my family member! I want to say that this article is
    amazing, nice written and come with almost all vital infos.
    I'd like to peer extra posts like this .

    Here is my homepage :: losing weight fast

    ReplyDelete