Conversations of a lifetime...

Have you ever had a conversation that felt like the conversation of a lifetime? Like God could just take you home now, because everything after that is going to feel downhill? And not just one, but a series of them in a row? Like God Himself is speaking through multiple people and conversations? 

I have had some amazing conversations in recent weeks and I stand in absolute awe of the trust and humility of the people involved. As dark as our world seems to be at the moment, there are lights shining brilliantly to show the way home. By their words, example, and childlike faith, they carve out the path to take. I keep hearing it said that light shines brightest in the darkest night.

These people aren't famous. They are actually quite ordinary people, with a few things in common. They recognize their own weaknesses and they allow God to work in and through those weaknesses. They do not isolate, they don't try to do it all alone or pretend that their weaknesses don't exist. They don't hide those things, but in the right time and way, they allow those things to be made manifest in ways that show it is truly God working in and speaking through them. 

There is an intoxicatingly beautiful mixture of darkness and light. They have doubts and fears like everyone else, regrets, things they don't understand or things they might like to change. Things they're continually and courageously working on. 

Yet, their weaknesses, the things they'd most like to hide, are the very things that make them so absolutely endearing. Some of them delight me to my core by their displays of humility. It is has been said that humility is simply to live in the truth. Some of those people prefer neither praise nor to show their doubts. They are not indifferent, nor do they push either of those things away entirely, they simply live in what is, in the goodness of either one, receiving both. It's not a wallowing in weakness, nor a clinging to praise. They know that what complicates our lives is not the truth of these things, but the refusal to acknowledge it. 

They recognize God's presence in their weaknesses and His glory shining through their strength. They accept both, though sometimes difficult to do so, because in either one, God is present. He is the source of every joy and good thing, and His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

They know that Jesus is the source of our salvation and that He fills in the gaps so that we can stand before Him one day and live with Him always. All we are asked to do is to acknowledge those areas before Him and to entrust those things to Him. 

The moments that these people choose to share, I feel like Peter at the Transfiguration of Christ. I want to build tents and camp in that moment always, though I know those moments are only a brief glimpse of eternity. I know without a doubt that I stand on holy ground at those times, at the vulnerability and breathtaking beauty of the souls before me who allow me to be present to that sacred space within. 

Jesus stands before our souls in much the same way, though far beyond our comprehension. He doesn't ask us to come with it all figured out. He just asks us to come do life with Him, to be willing to live in the truth. He doesn't overwhelm us with a bunch of stuff at once, but He draws near and helps us work through things in just the right time and way. He does not force, He simply invites. He is patient as He slowly gains our trust. 

Much like those souls, He too shares His heart and being. He came down in the flesh to walk among us and to look us in the eye. He poured out His own heart in the form of the Bible, letting us know some of the intimate workings of His heart. Standing before His Word can feel like a small girl standing before the highest King of the ages, as He stoops down on one knee to hand her the most delicate and beautiful of flowers just because He thought of her that day. He is never too much. He is always just right and right on time. Even in the times He needs to reveal something hard to us, He is still holding us up in the very palm of His hands.

I close today with another song. Tarja Turunen came out with a new album recently called "Dark Christmas." I have heard that her first of these albums was written because she too lost her mom and went through deep losses and struggles, difficult health issues, etc, but she gave birth to a child, found her voice and the thing she loves most, and it is the mixture of light and dark that comes through in her album, the grief and the joy.

I find that I can't relate to it in quite the same way now, as life has lightened so much for me. I want to bask in hope so much that I will likely put my tree and lights up this year far before Advent draws to a close and I will likely be the last in the neighborhood to take them down this year. Yet, there is one song on her new album that I can't stop listening to. It is called "Dark Christmas" and it is the only one that is original on the album. That is the very reason I love it so much. It is in her own words. It allows for the mixture of light and dark that permeates us all as we live in what I have heard called the "already and not yet" of our salvation story. We all have shadows within, but the light of Christ can permeate them all if we allow Him permission to do so.

It is the beauty of both that I am so thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. 

Peace be with you.

"Dark Christmas" by Tarja Turunen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrQFzLneY4

If you are interested, here is an interview with Tarja about the nature of her recent album, the mixture of the light and the dark and what it means for her personally. It is beautifully said and deeply relatable on many levels as she shares a little of her own personal history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-hdCJL8rkk

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30 NRSVCE

Photo Credit: Macro Mama, stocksnap.io