With God In A Strange LandExemplo

Day 3 One step forward, two steps back

Do you sometimes wish that life was just a little bit tidier? When we listen to great stories of faith and triumph, it is easy to forget that the road of faith is often marred by potholes. The journey of faith is an upward one, and the surface is far from smooth.

It is easy to forget that simply living 'abroad' in a place where language and culture and norms do not come naturally, is tiring. Unwittingly, you are engaged in a constant battle to adjust, as if spending your day on a balance ball. Years ago now, I spent a year living abroad and speaking a foreign language nearly all the time. For the first few months, even the very business of living was exhausting. The years have not changed that. Hopefully, the intervening years have taught me that fatigue cannot be charged, like a bull at a red rag. Nor can it be ignored, like some distant smoke alarm which seems like somebody else’s problem. Instead, it must be accommodated, like a creeper growing round the lamppost or a tree growing away from the immovable fence. This, too, is an adjustment - but hopefully it will pay dividends when said tree flourishes. (From Postcards from the Land of Grief Copyright © 2019 by Richard Littledale.)

In our reading from the Psalms today, David recalls just how precarious his life has felt at times. He remembers times when his faith has wobbled dangerously. And yet, through it all, God is near.

Our second reading contains one of the most beautiful and honest descriptions of human fragility to be found anywhere in Scripture. Here the great Apostle Paul, with all his learning and experience and courage, admits that we are each as fragile as a clay pot. Unlike the simplest pot, though, this one contains a treasure. Spend some time today telling God honestly about how untidy and fragile life feels. When you have done so, invite Him into the mess.