Before I posted this altered photo, I tried very hard to think of something wise to say to go along with this verse.
I kept remembering the four Owens kids, who lived in our neighborhood when I was growing up. The Owens kids had a vision. They used to tell us all about how their parents were going to enclose the carport and make a den and put another carport on the back of the house. They always recited a ton of details and it was all so real to them. They had a vision, and to hear those kids talk, you’d think construction was imminent, that surely it would begin the next morning at 6:00 a.m.
I have no doubt that they heard their parents as they dreamed and talked of what they would do one day. But the talk went on and I never saw any evidence of construction. I heard those kids speak their vision and I thought “yeah, right”. I was a skeptic at an early age. We all grew up, and the carport remained just a carport.
I don’t know when it finally happened but the construction began with me taking no notice. I was an adult when I went to visit with Mrs. Owens, to see the new kitchen cabinets and all the work that had been done. The whole family, which now includes several spouses and a few grandchildren, has room to gather together comfortably. Their vision came to pass, just as the Owens kids said it would.
And here is where I got bogged down. I wanted to write about how my heavenly Father has promised me a better home, about how wonderful that day will be “when the faith shall be made sight”. While I believe this verse is about the future promise of a better home, I also think it is about a present promise of clear eyes and an ongoing revelation of God. But the truth of the matter is, I am more than a little bogged down, and I’m discouraged, and my vision is not all that clear at the moment but I never meant for this blog to expose things like that, so I posted my altered photo and kept my mouth shut, because, isn’t a picture supposed to be worth more than a thousand words anyway?
And I’m no theologian, but I think part of the danger here is that when one feels emotionally that there is no present revelation from God, one does tend to cast off restraint—tends to slack off, and stops doing the very things that would be conducive to hearing from God. In other words, one loses the expectation of vision. I would think this little one who thinks she is in a dark and quiet place needs to remember that feelings are not always trustworthy. As we used to say back in the seventies, she needs to keep on truckin’, needs to remember, “thus far, the Lord has been good to us.” She needs to put her glasses back on and get her head up and look around and see. There is a light somewhere in all this darkness.
Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified Bible) Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.
Proverbs 29:18 (NIV Bible) Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.
Needed this. Needed this really bad. I am at the same place for different reasons. Thank you for being open enough to post things like this because it gives another little one a light.
ReplyDeleteI gotta dwell on this one a while......
ReplyDeleteHang in there Princess. I'm sorry you are in that place and I trust that you will soon be doing (seeing?) better.
ReplyDeleteAyekah, you dwell on it for a while, and come back and let us know what you figure out, ok?
Mindy is right. I learn a lot from posts like this. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a line that we cross when we step out of darkness and into light. On the side of the line where there is darkness there is no vision, restraint is cast off, and hope is lost. Step all the way over the line and into the light and you step into heaven where all you see is The Light of Life and we no longer hope for one does not hope for what he or she sees. This is life in the fullness of redemption. We will someday live there eternally, but we are not there yet.
ReplyDeleteUntil then we live our lives with one foot, maybe two, over the line looking in the direction of the light. We see the light, though it be a long way off. We see it and we yearn for it. We hope for it because we are not there. With our backs to the darkness we look toward the light, and make it our vision, restrained by the love of God to not turn back.
I live with one foot over the line at all times. It's the only way to convince myself that God has given me a vision of His life in me.
Interesting; it's *kind of* along the same lines, but in a different way; I was watching "Band of Brothers" last night, andLt. Spiers was talking to a soldier named Blithe who froze up in combat. Spiers told him the reason he froze up was that he hadnt accepted the inevitable, that his life was out of his hands, he did not control his destiny, that the sooner he realized he was already dead,the sooner he would function like a soldier is supposed to. Perhaps not the sunniest of ways to look at it, but the underlying message here is acceptance.
ReplyDeleteThere is a song by The Smiths that says: "You just havent earned it yet baby, you must suffer and try for slightly longer". Perhaps you're meant to learn a little more before things change?
I know that when my last girlfriend broke up with me, I was really, really deeply hurt; to the point where I was in the shower one morning and realized that if someone walked in and put a gun to my head right then and there, I wouldnt have cared one bit if they pulled the trigger.Thats a scary thing to realize, very sobering in fact.
I thought after that, that things would get better, right? That perhaps I would find someone to love, but I lived alone, had very little contact in the way of friends and didnt start dating anyone for another two years. I was absolutely miserable for a long time, but in the end I learned alot about what it really means to care about someone, and when I did start dating again, it was with someone I had been friends with for a long time, and to this day, were still friends and still talk daily.... Well, she has to talk to me, were married, but thats not the point! The point is, you have to accept that the big guy knows what he is doing, that it's all in his hands, and like Lt. spiers told Blithe, The sooner you accept that, the sooner things will get better.
Ah Ha! Now it works!
ReplyDeleteWadingI think that is an important thing to remember: we are not there yet. I seem to keep forgetting that I am still in "traveling" mode. And that is another part of this verse that I have thought about, but did not write about at this time, the notion of restraint. Restraint is something people sometimes see in a negative light, but it can be a protective and sheltering thing. On the other hand, restraint can be restrictive and binding, depending, I suppose on who or what we are restrained by.
Steve You have pointed something out to me that I have been thinking about. That is the idea of acceptance. I would do myself much good if I would accept some things, and quit fighting what is, that is to say, I decided I need to quit wearing my life like an ill-fitted suit!
I also agree that a quick resolution is not always the most beneficial solution, that there is a value in continued pain.
It says a lot about a person, how they act when they just don't get what they want. And we all have some sort of pain in our lives.
After my dad died, my mom would wearily complain when she had been visited by "Job's friendss." You know, they are the people who say it's all God's will, we just have to accept it. I think that she needed to be absent from the light for a while because when we are in the light we get a very clear picture of our own frailty. The key must be to fix our eyes on Jesus.
ReplyDeleteLet us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrew 12:2-3
What David said.
ReplyDeleteThanks David, you've given me a timely reminder.
ReplyDeletePatti, yep, David hit the nail on the head, didn't he?
I have re-read this post no less than 6 or 7 times....at least and everytime I read it I want to say something theological....and then I ran across this this morning..."A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" Proverbs 25:11. So that shut me up....and I also ditto what David said. And it also meant that it was worth me waiting a week for an answer, because when you wait, it does come.
ReplyDeleteI liked this quite a bit... and judging from the responses it struck a chord with others as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks.