Mathew 18:1-10
H,
This is the loneliness a
person must feel when they approach that other side of being themselves to the
exclusion of outside opinion. I do not mean the selfishness of having your own
way. A Christian cannot aspire to have his own way and if he or she does that
person is in error. A Christian aspires that the truth win out, that the will
be done and that God’s Kingdom come in every situation. This is not so easy to
do but it is the pilgrim’s process. Obedience to it is dying to self. Christ did
it fully and then on a cross. We the shadows get to do it with our cluttered
lives.
There is no committee to
help you get this far. The Church helps, it builds, it connects and it supports
but it cannot perform your role for you. You are like a character in a story
and what happens to you happens to you alone. This does not mean you go around
pouting or singing about the troubles you’ve seen. The other layer above this
is that we love with heavy lives and breaking hearts. That we do not hit back
when we are hit and where there is a chance to give mercy and let something go,
you do. It is not easy. It never was. It is meant to be your cross. Yet, it is
a lighter burden than anything else.
The thing to accept is that
you cannot do it on your own. There is an inner witness guiding you all the
way. There is a heavenly crowd cheering you on. The loneliness you feel is only
a figment of your lack of imagination. There is grace at every door. Life as
has been taught to us is not supposed to be this simple. It is supposed to be
dark and dreary and Machiavellian. The Kingdom of God is something else
entirely and eternal for the difference. It takes us back to original intent
because those are the real building blocks of a worthy life for all.