Attempting to remove the trials from life is akin to trying to remove the storms from weather. Try it, and you’ll find that storms, along with sunny bluebird days and everything in between, are the weather; and, that there are some very positive things gained only in the midst or aftermath of a healthy storm.
Good strong hurricanes or tropical storms provide at least five benefits to the earth. 1. They bring water to land. 2. They help regulate global temperatures. 3. They build up barrier islands. 4. They help maintain biodiversity in the ocean. 5. They help maintain biodiversity out of water. These actions are facilitated by the power only a major storm can produce.
I’ve been having some issues making this transition from sword to pen; it’s not intuitive. My “product” is not plumb level square. And it’s not a regular workday; in fact, my workday tends to be longer now, with so little seemingly accomplished. Odd hours? Rest assured, while you’re peacefully sleeping, well worn out after a normal, hard day’s work, I’m up pondering things no one else seems to care about. At all. Why I do this, I do not know.
Trust me when I say I yearn to be like you. Unless you’re like me. At times I feel I’m this little island of thought, isolated down among the masses, the large cloud of common knowledge swirling around and above us. Every once in awhile, I expel some of my precious breath; an insignificant offering of hope and thought that prayerfully swells and goes out into the world.
Every writer deals with it differently. It being the seemingly unavoidable solitude; the uncertainty of success. The long, odd hours, often through the night; getting outside because I stay in too much now. It’s not a “normal” existence.
I climb the hillside behind the house to gain another perspective. Getting out does help; in no time I’m breathing deeply. The cobwebs steadily dissipate.
Maybe a clue can be found in the child who, growing up with questions unanswered, enters into a searching, seeking, wandering life. We tend to see a loss, even tragedy; he is, in fact, unknowingly collecting data for future reflective thought.
After enough time, when no truth is found in revelry, no comfort in mankind and the institutions therein, no wisdom discovered in song, he turns to adventure, seeking challenge and the unknown. There is found a certain truth and honesty, often terrifying; but what he seeks, what he really wants is not there either. All of these experiences are nothing compared to the One he wants. And so he finally writes to Him for attention; for help. And what good things He reveals, and what good things he writes, with such insight. Soon, others are drawn to read his encouragement, and he becomes alive.
Sometime in July of 1929, Rockwell Kent, an American artist and illustrator, together with a couple companions, hiked inland after being shipwrecked in the Karajak Fiord along the west coast of Greenland. Moved by the beauty of an unknown lake they happen upon, his recorded response is telling. “Maybe we have lived only to be here now.” This man certainly stood a good chance of not getting back to his homeland, his people. Yet, in fine artistic expression, he was able to convey so much of what life demands if we are to be set apart, to see things in ways that others don’t.
And recently a friend of mine, David Renner, suggested that all our efforts might never be recognized in this lifetime. Yet we give of ourselves, much like the artist, or author, whose work never gains a following or appreciation while they’re still living; we trust, innately somehow, that our efforts will one day matter. The act of growing up and deciding what you will do with your life is timeless, and oh so wonderfully individual and unique. And although some seem to never accomplish this, we all do mature in our own way, and, as Neil Peart observes, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
We should not become discouraged. The idea is to do something, hopefully because of a strong, internal conviction you are doing precisely what it is you are to do. I try to live intentionally because I believe I was intentionally made; I, in all my muddled, selfish glory, am not an accident. Never underestimate our powerful and sovereign Creator and Savior. He defines and deifies and personifies and demonstrates love. And He made you. Scripture tells us we should encourage one another daily, and that we will be known by our love for Him, and one another. The two greatest commandments; love the Lord with all your being, and your neighbor as yourself. Do that and every other law of God and mankind is satisfied.
Do you know your Maker? Do you really know yourself?
S.A.L.
Wallace, 5.’16
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