It's the end of August and right on target my cherry trees and peach tree are losing their leaves surrendering their lively summer to hibernation for the winter. The vegetables in the garden are finishing their long run of providing fresh veggies for me. The dahlias are beginning to wind down their season of blooming. Fall is coming and is already partially here. The fawns with their mom have grown up and feed on the fresh crop of crab apples their spots no longer visible. All of nature tells me there is a change of season taking place. It's not just nature but also the world around you and I. We too have been changing as our lives cycle from conception to life eternal with Jesus. The Bible is full of quotes and stories about the aging process as well as what to expect. Unlike nature we have some choices that we can and do make to either hasten or hinder our own transitions. The life that we live is either lived well or lived poorly. Maybe a bit of both. I'd like to think most of my life has been lived well. I'm sure you would like to think the same. We'll get to heaven and find out what He thinks.
As I survey my family and friends I am acutely aware of lives lived well as well as those not lived well. Some had more struggles than others and some were blessed more than others. Those who struggled maybe recognize the blessings more than those who were blessed recognize the need for the struggle in the first place. With the cycle of life there is hello and there is goodbye. None of us get out of life unscathed nor do we get out of life unblessed. What's important is the one we pay attention to. We aren't promised an unscathed life no matter what the conditions. We are promised the blessings when we have the focus on Jesus. But then I get ahead of myself. I recognize the lives full of trauma just as I recognize the lives of blessings. They are intertwined in my life for reasons revealed or not. It's not mine to question God why but to accept that His plan is being played out just as he had planned for me. Regardless of what I think or what the world thinks; the world is unfolding just as it needs to. Do you believe that?
My life reads like a road map of a sojourner on a quest. That's what it's been. I've read in Psalm 49 that he knew me before he set me in my mother's womb. I also read in Revelation that he will bestow upon me a new name when I get to heaven. It will be the name he has always had for me. I don't know what that name will be but I will recognize it in my soul when I hear it spoken. You will too if you know Jesus. In between I've been on a journey seeking that age old question, "Who am I?" Not to be without technology, I've had my DNA tested and found some amazing things about me that were previously known that were present all along. From the predispositions to this or that to the percentage of what nationality I am (English and Irish), I feel like I know a bit more about myself. Through my spiritual journey I've found where I have strengths and where I have weaknesses. Both were and are present for my growth and discovery in who I am in Christ. I still seek who I am but am blessed to know who's I am. The cycles will and do continue. The larger question remains what will I choose today. Remember, it's always your choice.
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