I actually slept in a bit today, 6:30 a.m. Amazingly Wonderful thing, this “sleeping in.” I went out to the Kitchen to begin cooking one of the two Thanksgiving Turkeys. It is at my house this year and I want to make sure there is enough meat for everyone, so I am doing a back-up bird. I put in one of my old familiar favorite CD’s and began singing, trying to harmonize, and just generally enjoying one of my favorite songwriters of all time. My mind seemed to pick up more and more of the actual lyrics I was listening to. I began to see that my beloved songwriter was actually kind of lost, lonely and still searching for meaning in life. I listened as each song went by, picking up words like: chaos and void, traveler, final truth, beyond the lies. I guess one of the lines that jumped out at me the most was, “I always knew the final truth lay just beyond the lies. But I never thought that it’d be this hard to find.”
I pondered that line and realized just how blessed I am to have found the truth beyond the lies. Or should I say, that Truth found me. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and The Life.” He found me, I received Him, and he promised me, “Whoever believes in me shall have eternal life. I believed Him, and thus began the true Journey of life for me. You see, I remember what it felt like to just be hanging out there, detached from my Creator, who made me with a special purpose. I was a starry-eyed dreamer when I was young. I knew what I wanted to be, and just always assumed it would just happen. But it didn’t, and nothing worth having just ‘happens.’ God allowed some severe difficulties to pop up in my life, and I, like the Apostle Paul, pleaded with the Lord to take these things away.
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12)
God did not remove these difficulties, these thorns in my flesh. No instead, God left them in my life so that in overcoming them, I would become strong in the Word of God, strong in character and devotion, strong in love and gratitude toward Him. Notice that Paul says 2x that God leaving this thorn in his flesh was to keep him from becoming conceited. I believe that these thorns are so very necessary, because most of us start out as ‘starry-eyed dreamers” or “hard-driven adrenalin junkies.” We all seem to start out as someone who needs to grow up, and into the callings God has on our life.
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5)
If Jesus learned obedience from the things which He suffered, how much more must I?
O God of Glory, Your Mercy knows no measure, Your Grace has no bounds and Your Love is completely unfathomable. How I long to bask in Your Eternal Presence, but until you call me home. Help me to point others to You, so that they may be found by You as well, and be delivered from the loneliness, the sense of detachment, the emptiness and void of a life spent with out You, The Creator and Lover of their souls. Thank You God, for reminiscing with me, beyond the lies, this morning. Thank You for leading me to Jesus, the Way, The Truth and The Life. I give you each moment of this day, and everyday of the rest of my life.
In Jesus Name and Love…Amen!
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