I'M FINDING MORE THE LESS I HAVE. Because really, I didn't have that much to begin with. I've often stood clutching tightly to things I believe I am entitled to, all the while allowing the world in which I'm standing – a gift overflowing with relationships, opportunities and beauty to flow by. But when my hands and legs are pried away from their death clutch on “stuff” they have no business being wrapped around to begin with, I am freed to jump into the depth of life intended for me.
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It is easy to convince ourselves that we are moving forward. After all, time isn't stopping, right? But does that unimpeded chronological advance necessarily mean we're making progress? I've been thinking a great deal the last couple of days about success. About wisdom and folly. About coming to an understanding of my own simplicity; a humility that is willing to say that life is more about who than do, which means others over self.
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We are all embarked, whether we acknowledge it or not, on a sojourn with a God who is journeying. His way forward may not be what we imagined walking with him would look like. It may not be about what we see as our desires, our comfort, our safety. It may very well be in direct conflict with any or all of those things. It will most certainly be, however, full of joy (as described in James 1) and love (I John) for the glory of God (I love how Hebrews lays out God's glory through history and the messiness of real life, and the hope of it playing out in our own as well).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
- Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV (Italics mine)
