Lately I have been hammering out some great analogies. Nothing was premeditated they just came to me. I have found that my mind works best when I am mad or upset, even my creativity takes a step in a positive direction. Also, as of late, I have been spending time alone, not pursuing anyone, or anything, other than God. I have a tendency to get really irritable if I don't take time to hear from Him. I guess that when you have lived a life like mine, encountered the people I have encountered, seen what I have seen, you tend to ask yourself a lot of questions. However, I am not one to sit around in the dark about things. I must find answers, I must find peace. Sometimes, peace comes without an answer. But it is peace nonetheless.
In a previous life I was a drifter, and rightfully so by many standards. To say that for the first leg of this journey started off in unfamiliar, uncharted waters would not be an understatement, as the viewpoint through which this whole adventure if viewed is by way of the driftwood, he knows nothing of deep, dark, mysterious water. His prior life in the forrest had consisted of solid, firm, and planted realities. But, through his love of simplicity he is caught off guard by an outside force that strips him of what he thinks he knows, he understands, and he values. He is then thrown into the watery, not so placid, mysterious abyss. Here he is with met and engulfed in the arms of uncertainty, he cant see to the bottom of things, he is therefore at war with an enemy much bigger than himself, much more powerful than anything he has encountered previously. A devilish foe of old ...
This journey is against his will for if he had had a choice in this matter he would not have chosen to be overcome with such horror, doubt, and uncertainty. Maybe that is the problem with so many of us? We choose not to suffer, we choose to be left alone to the comforts of our proverbial "hedge". He constantly has his back turned on where he is actually headed ... he drifts further and further away from what he knows to be home but never takes his eyes of what is familiar to him. He is too frightened to look at where he is going, he would rather look at where he has been. Who would subject themselves to such things? And, for a season he drifts to and fro struggling to keep his head above water. But, one day through many struggles, through much exhaustion, he finds himself looking upon a new shore and a new frontier, rather, a new way of things. But, by now his very essence is both water logged, and numb to this new and, what would be considered an exciting splash of an expanded horizon, could this be the relative clarity he had been in search of since being thrown into such uncertainty? Unfortunately, he is now a pessimist, who above all else has been baptized in skepticism. Trust is a thing of the past ... and though looking back upon the waters he has now crossed he knows that that past is a distant one. Fear takes hold of him and he realizes that even if he should choose to return to the place from whence he came he would not even know the way back. So here he is, and if he chooses, here he shall remain, for to him there no going back. Is there a forward? Is there a present? He does not know ... he just knows there is no going back!
He splashes around these foreign banks attempting to see onto dry land. He is not certain that this new land in fact holds his deliverance. He toys with the idea of leaving the familiar waters to lay his head on solid ground but is, like I said before, not one of easy trust. Despite the motivation of the waves and the pull of the tide he is reluctant to venture on. However, one day he is all of the sudden swept up by a fishing net and amongst the calamity and splish splashing he indeed finds himself starring into the eyes of a fisherman. He does not recognize him by name but there is something of this man that is familiar.
The fisherman takes this war torn chunk of wood and allows him to dry out, he eases his yoke(if you will) and begins to purge the poor driftwood of his burdens little by little. Through time in fellowship he develops a trust for the fisherman, though he is still uncertain as to the overwhelming since of familiarity he has with this fisherman. But, nonetheless the trust grows, it takes shape! Ironically, little by little, so does driftwood. He allows his new friend to clean him up and strip him of his previous life at sea. Driftwood, begins to see himself in a new, yet distant light ... in fact, it is himself that he finds himself looking back at! Only it is a long forgotten man from before! Before he was known as driftwood. With this veil now lifted from his soul he can now see that he was never intended to be driftwood, though thats only what he could see when he saw himself ... driftwood. After a good bit of shock he finds the eyes of the fisherman ...
What he sees is frightful ... yet, it is wonderfully inviting. Driftwood, finds himself looking his maker in the eyes. What he once thought was merely a simple fisherman he now finds a new and eternal hope in. Through his journey he finds that it was in fact his pursuit of where he had been that was keeping him from where he was going. The fisherman was in front of him the whole time! For this he is thankful, always! The fisherman begins to tell of how He had been with him always, how His love never fainted, and how He jealousy sought him despite his resilience. It was the words of the fisherman that cut the deepest, deeper than any uncharted waters. Though the world looks at him and sees a jagged shard of wood, the fisherman sees a tree planted by streams of water whose fruit does not wither, but prospers. Driftwood now spends his days working along side the fisherman to rescue drifters from the deep, dark, and cold unknown. Seeking remnant's of a long, lost, and yet, present community.
I am driftwood! Though, I do not drift anymore.
"Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."-2 Corinthians 4:12-18
I don't know if any of you have seen a salt water driftwood bonfire. It will emit sparks that are accompanied by blue and green flames ... Remnants of a previous life that have now been set ablaze to show their present glory. Reminds me of a John Wesley quote:
"When God sets a man on fire, people will show up to watch him burn"
No comments:
Post a Comment