When the difficult happens, I often find myself going back to a label created one afternoon. On that occasion, an artist and winemaker explored the myth and possible legend behind their creation. In addition to a new fictional story, a label emerged. It was Old Testament and prophetic, ominous and hopeful, deliverance, and condemnation, all wrapped up in one. If the goal was to give the audience a conundrum, at least with me, it worked.
My natural reaction to extreme “difficult” is often fear and uncertainty. I know I deserve to be condemned. Personally, I am not looking for justice, I long for mercy. With an awareness of redemption, I struggle to think I quality. The idea that my story is one of unconditional access to acceptance and recreation is beyond my comprehension. When I add a mixture of difficult communication, my stress levels exceed my ability to respond coherently.
Yesterday, I received difficult news about a lifelong friend. For him and for myself, it is a time of uncertainty and fear. As I think of the artist’s expression, I find myself holding onto Life’s whispers.
Within every event in life is a thread of hope. As extreme as the difficult can be, we are and will always be children of Divinity. She longs for our embrace. She loves us, at our best and at our worst. An old school prophet, “Isaiah, had looked ahead and spoken the truth: If our powerful God had not provided us a legacy of living children, we would have ended up like ghost towns, like Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Romans 9.29) Every Divine child is part of this legacy.
Life’s darkness and pain will, in the fullness of time, yield to love, recreation, and restoration. While it may seem impossible and it may wait until what comes next, my faith reminds me that love will win. I look at the label and I see hope. I hear my calling. It is time to face the difficult, knowing Divinity along with my brothers and sisters, are going into the battle with me.
