The whole decision to leave heaven behind, become flesh and blood, be bound to earth by gravity and limited by time and space.....
As I thought of his journey and how completely and wholeheartedly he embraced it, I started reflecting on how good we are at embracing ours.....
It seems we are always on the move, even at a standstill, our mind still works on moving.
Be it planning for the future, hoping for a change in our current state of affairs - whether it be a longing for marriage, be done with school, freedom from debt, to move from sorrow to joy, from feeling lonely, from sickness to health.
The desire to move on from any of these is completely understandable, I've been in each one and spent much time trying to get to the next stage.
We forget we are on a journey - or rather we cease to embrace the journey we are on.
It is easy to journey on summer days when a gentle wind kisses your chin and the blue skies reflect in your eyes - and even knowing not all days will be like that doesn't stop us from trying to skip ahead when the cold rain pours with no end in sight.
But right there, in the trying, in the longing for the new tomorrow, - in the time spent pining for what we don't have or what we aren't yet, etc. right there we lose our connection to the 'here and now' on our journey and even more,
I think we miss out on something deep and valuable that only the 'here and now' can give.
Jesus left heaven to, through birth, journey on earth as a human being. It was far from an easy journey. Isaiah 53;3 "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief...." Surely there were days of laughter and merriment, but there were many other days as well.
Jesus changed throughout his journey on earth .....
Heb. 2:17 says he had to be made like his brothers in every respect SO that he would BECOME merciful and faithful ..... and further in Heb. 5:8 "... although He was the son, He learned obedience from the things He which suffered. And having been made perfect..."
Through suffering and hardship, Jesus became something he wasn't before!
If we decided to embrace this 'day' on our journey, if we, instead of trying to escape it, chose to explore it, I believe we would become 'richer'.
And I mean embrace, not with the intent on getting stuck and settling down there for good ..... keep the balance.
Think of loneliness....
Loneliness creates emotions nothing else does, as does sorrow and illness - if we avoid/ignore or pretend them nonexistent we will be void of not just the emotions, but what they create.
Because what they create in us, in our character, in our heart, in our thought pattern - that will stay even after the emotion is gone.
When we go through hard times on our journey, being sifted, hewn, molded, something beautiful is being created in the process. That we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't.
Romans 5:5 "....knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope....." Something eternal is being produced!!
Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that God who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Merry Christmas
-b
No comments:
Post a Comment