The one real thing

Every now and again, my mind gets tired, and my thoughts spin out of control like a stack of papers in a whirl-wind.  So many things so often, can one escape the news of the world these days?  And what are we to make of it when everything that happens in the world is immediately descended upon by experts who explain to us what they think this or that means.  The wind twists and turns, the papers fly and the trees bow.  What do I hold on to?

The journey of life takes one to so many interesting and beautiful places, that nailing down something as simple as an identity can be tricky. The "is this really me" thing can become like a person in a department store fitting room. Hmmm. Too tight, to loose, too old fashioned, too new, too young, too brown, too red. Its easy to hang it all on a rack and walk out into the world in the same old clothes we wore in, forgetting that at some point, we had to choose those too.


I struggled with this identity question for many years .  I felt that Christianity was my foundation, after all, I was born this way, baptized into the body, and had been a member, sometimes even dues paying.  But the question remained, where is my foundation, where is the most fundamental source of my strength?  Especially in times of uncertainty, which, as everyone knows, come along about every day.  There were many things to hold on to, to be sure, but there was still that lingering question, what is the real source of all this?

God showed me something recently.  Not something literally as a picture, but something in my heart that shuddered through my entire being.  It's all about redemption.  That's it.  That is the foundation.  It is not about me or my wants, my fears, my social blindness or excesses.  It's about redemption.  Jesus, the man, dying a very real death, and each and every one of us given a chance for new life.  The life that we all so very desperately seek.  The life promised by so many creeds, cultures, religions, cults, what ever, the life of freedom, peace, and joy.  The life of being God's own.  It is truly here.  A lot has to be pulled away in order to see it, a lot has to be learned and then unlearned to know it.  But it is there.

That is the foundation.  Without it, a swirling mess in a tempest.  With it, the ability to be.  And now that I can be, I will finally be able to live.