Life

What is it that seems to be missing when you sit alone, in the perfect home or museum? Nothing stirs. We see the achievement of what we yearn for most days, yet something unsettling stirs in our gut, reminding us that it is not the way. While there may be quiet, still and order, something is missing.


What is it that brings peace and joy on the noisy and dangerous banks of a raging ocean? We know the risks and the churning never ceases. Yet it fills our souls, we relax, and light up inside.


Life.


I suspect when God, in his perfection and in bringing order from chaos, leaned down to his masterpiece, Man, to breathe that first breath of Life into him, the thing he knew he forever gave in exchange for this creation he loved was perfection. Into that muddy, dirt- shapened being, the Creator of all things chose to breathe Holy Spirit thus bringing Life into Man and so the churning of life began as the quiet of perfection ceased.


I cannot say we have escaped another year of life without markings of its presence. The Abundant Life often comes with amazing views from lofty heights and sharp drops into dark valleys. It is for the presence of the Lord and His nearness that we do not succumb to sickness and bitterness in response to the events of Life. As beautiful as the high spots have been, so dark and unfriendly the low spots. As we look over the year, we see our Faithful Father with us, never leaving us alone. Always there. In the mess. In the blessing. In the gut wrenching pain. In the chest filling joy.


And that is the point. He was there in the beginning. The author and creator of Life. He breathed the first, He gave up a part then the all, for everlasting Life. And He is with us always, even to the end of the age.