Thursday, December 27, 2007

Appreciating Blindness

Finding God's will is humbling and requires faith. Is it shameful to spend a season waiting on the Lord? Is that waiting season ever in vain?

There is an elderly woman I have heard of but never met. "Ellie" rises each morning and waits on her front porch for the arrival of her friend, another elderly woman. Together they sit while her friend reads aloud from the Holy Writ. At the end of the Bible passage, hands are extended and eyes are closed in prayer, as the ladies commit the day to doing the Lord's will. Ellie is blind.

Yesterday, a friend mentioned how she wishes to have a calling in her life, but she's still clueless what God wants. What can a girl do, except cast her talents out like bait? It's not much; in fact, it's a pretty helpless and pathetic state in which to exist. Waiting, waiting, fishing for a future; waiting for bait to be bitten and God to reveal His will through opening a door. My friend is blind too; not in the same physical sense as Ellie, but she feels like she's groping around in the dark.

Both Ellie and my friend are in an unglamorous situation. Neither is self-sufficient. God must be sought continually for another ration of rest and sustenance. Would anyone envy them?

A state of being like Laodicea's is generally thought more agreeable. A shining symbol of self-confidence, Laodicea was a church that could stand on its own two feet. God called the church to task for its stubborn independence: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." (Rev. 3:17) How the rebuke must have smarted--and that from the Maker of the universe.

I think I share a lot in common with that place. Freethinking, I can whip up future plans like no other. (Some would re-term "freethinking" in this context as "folly.") Unlike Ellie and my friend, I have my life figured out. My future plans are in the bag. Determining for sure that those plans are truly for my best and the best for God's Kingdom is another matter entirely. I don't have that kind of discernment.

Obviously, there is something lacking in a Laodicea mentality. The key is not that God wants a to live without purpose. Without a clear plan, getting lost is easier than you think. My family proved this point a few years ago, as we circled Memphis for the fourth time, exiting toward the ramp we thought led to Texas, finding ourselves in Mississippi and wishing we'd never stepped foot in Tennessee in the first place. Phew. If that happened in the space of only a few hours, how much worse could happen traveling through life with no planned route or destination? It's a scary thought. Having some kind of plan is smart. Although a detailed daytimer to guide us to our 70th birthday is probably unnecessary, an idea of the skills God wants us to develop is helpful.

Yet before the life planning happens, is it wrong to have a season of deciding, where we try to discover God's will? Is it shameful to be compelled to wait in perfect simplicity--in blind trust--for God? It feels shameful. It's humiliating (and humbling.) Worse yet, it's frightening. I don't envy Ellie's blindness or my friend's. Their respective situations require faith. But I am confident, as they are, that waiting on the Lord is never in vain.
While Laodicea experienced true spiritual blindness due to pride, Ellie and my friend simply appear blind. In reality, their eyes are being opened to a deeper level of trust in Christ. They are resting in the fact that the Giver of Sight will one day show them a wider view. That doesn't sound like blindness to me.

Corrie ten Boom wrote, "Never fear to trust an unknown future to a known God." What is more, Christ said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14) Although these two people may feel purposeless and their waiting may seem futile, they may yet achieve a higher purpose: glorifying God by becoming radiant beacons of selfless trust. That's not so bad, is it?

Labels: , , , , ,

Monday, January 15, 2007

An Unsaved Princess

  • Posted by Hannah at 5:20 PM
Once upon a time, a girl named Rapunzel was held captive in a tall stone tower. She then lived happily ever after. The end.

Yes, it is a pathetic story. I doubt you will ever find it on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Honestly, who cares about Rapunzel without rescuer? Who would be interested in a Cinderella with no prince to find her glass slipper? No one ever cares about stories involving princesses and frogs, unless of course the frog turns into a prince…now that story has possibilities.

An article from the Seattle Weekly reported that the “Unsaved Princess” syndrome has slipped into real life as well:
“I did a careful reading of the fall issues of the following publications: Cosmo Girl, Jump, Seventeen, and YM (Young and Modern.) The conclusion I came to was this: The boy-crazy American Girl is alive and well. She's never felt better….Girls need boys, boys are the be-all and end-all, and mind-numbing boy craziness is a natural state….Throughout these pages girls engage in the old game of he-loves-me, he-loves-me-not. They moon around about prom night. They crave Prince Charming so deeply it's making them psycho. A headline in Cosmo Girl reads 'No Guys Ever Like Me, So Now What?'"

Even in circles in which dating is not the focus, often unless the ring finger is no longer bare, life has not yet begun. A girl does not live until Prince Charming sweeps her off her feet. But as the clock ticks on, one must wonder if God has something in mind for modern day Rapunzels besides twiddling their thumbs.

Ephesians 5:25-30, 32 lets us in on a secret:

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it....This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church."
Husbands and wives are but echoes of Jesus' love for the Church. As a husband is commanded to love his wife as his own body, Jesus loved us by giving His body over to death for us.

Marriage reflects love. Jesus defined it.

As the modern Rapunzel's thoughts dwell around her coming prince, she may miss the One, True King of her soul. He stands at this moment, beckoning for her to come away with Him. He cares for her with a unconditional, selfless love that no other prince could rival.

Days pass to months, and the clock ticks on. Rapunzel is still in her tower, but she is no longer wasting time. She is falling in love, not with the prince who has yet to save her, but with the King who has already saved her soul. She is living today, not waiting for "someday."

May it be the same for us. As C.H. Spurgeon wrote, "The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day."


Sources:
Article. Emily White, "Girls who love boys," Seattle Weekly, August 23, 2000
Spurgeon quote from Faith's Checkbook entry for June 22

Labels: , ,