Meant To Be
I've been thinking a lot about how things were meant to be.I'm always wanting to change something. If asked, I could find at least 10 ways I would like to be better or do more. I've always felt a deep longing that things are just not right. This is not what life is about. There seems to be an endless well of dissatisfaction that is always spurring me to change something. When I find people unwilling to try or writing off change, writing off hope for themselves, hope for something more, it hurts me.
"It is what it is," they say, "There's nothing that can be done."
No. It isn't "what it is..."
In fact, it IS what it isn't. Things are NOT as they should be. Things are all wrong. To give up fighting against who we are and what we do is to let it win. Perfection is impossible. Fine. But just because perfection is not possible in the space of time as we know it, does not give us reason to lay down our desire to find it. It doesn't mean that the longing dies. It doesn't mean we don't fight it until the last bloody beaten down second of the fight and give it all of ourselves.
We rage against how it is. We war against what is broken.
Though we age, we fight for health.
Though we hurt, we fight for love.
Though we lie, we seek out truth.
It is the image of God in us that shakes loose the hopelessness. It is the fact that in spite of what will forever seem like insurmountable odds, we keep going forward. We change because we feel God in us, moving against this world, reminding us that this is not how it was meant to be. And it is not how it will be.
We won't find perfection here. We will all die. By sickness or calamity, we will. People will act out of hate and spite. And we will all lie somehow. So why keep fighting? Because God in us says that we CAN change. God in us says that we HAVE hope. We have a hope that we can find and live in TODAY. God in us says it's okay to believe that there is something better, something more that starts now. His spirit in us is not one that says we should settle and wait as comfortably as we can doing whatever we want until he comes back. His spirit in us tells us that change is possible, that this is not as it was meant to be.
His spirit in us is why we get chills at weightloss stories.
His spirit in us is why we love makeovers.
His spirit in us is why we exercise and clean and renovate.
His spirit in us is why we cry when people overcome disease.
His spirit in us is why we give up our lives to serve those less fortunate.
Because His Spirit is hope. His Spirit is change. His Spirit overcomes. His Spirit gives and grows.
His spirit is what gives us renewed and sustaining hope that tomorrow WILL be better and we can be different, do things differently and make a difference right here and right now.
"It is what it is," they say, "There's nothing that can be done."
No. It isn't "what it is..."
In fact, it IS what it isn't. Things are NOT as they should be. Things are all wrong. To give up fighting against who we are and what we do is to let it win. Perfection is impossible. Fine. But just because perfection is not possible in the space of time as we know it, does not give us reason to lay down our desire to find it. It doesn't mean that the longing dies. It doesn't mean we don't fight it until the last bloody beaten down second of the fight and give it all of ourselves.
We rage against how it is. We war against what is broken.
Though we age, we fight for health.
Though we hurt, we fight for love.
Though we lie, we seek out truth.
It is the image of God in us that shakes loose the hopelessness. It is the fact that in spite of what will forever seem like insurmountable odds, we keep going forward. We change because we feel God in us, moving against this world, reminding us that this is not how it was meant to be. And it is not how it will be.
We won't find perfection here. We will all die. By sickness or calamity, we will. People will act out of hate and spite. And we will all lie somehow. So why keep fighting? Because God in us says that we CAN change. God in us says that we HAVE hope. We have a hope that we can find and live in TODAY. God in us says it's okay to believe that there is something better, something more that starts now. His spirit in us is not one that says we should settle and wait as comfortably as we can doing whatever we want until he comes back. His spirit in us tells us that change is possible, that this is not as it was meant to be.
His spirit in us is why we get chills at weightloss stories.
His spirit in us is why we love makeovers.
His spirit in us is why we exercise and clean and renovate.
His spirit in us is why we cry when people overcome disease.
His spirit in us is why we give up our lives to serve those less fortunate.
Because His Spirit is hope. His Spirit is change. His Spirit overcomes. His Spirit gives and grows.
His spirit is what gives us renewed and sustaining hope that tomorrow WILL be better and we can be different, do things differently and make a difference right here and right now.
Comments
It reminds me of that book I loved last year and will now be picking up again -- Tim Chester's You Can Change. I need reminding that God is not finished with me and that hope is here and now :) Thanks, friend. Love you.