A Longing Fulfilled

Proverbs 13:12 has been on my heart a lot the last few weeks. Initially I was focused on the first part of the verse. I've lived in a state of deferred hope for a long time. I suffered depression so dark that I couldn't see a way out and even tried suicide more than once - I don't recommend it as a plan!

My life story has been filled with loss and brokenness. But there's also been times of hope that have kept me going. It's easy to forget the good when the bad hits in such waves.

"A tree of life" is how the passage describes what it is to have the hope fulfilled. Life.

Hope deferred is a way of life today. Depression, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism are just symptoms of the desperation the World has filled our hearts with. Insidious promises we can never hope to achieve dog us daily in this world.

The Enemy of our Souls has found a way to trap us. We live mndane existances that only the most cynical would call life. We stopped asking the deep questions long ago. Why are we here? What is God's plan for us?

These questions drove the first Christians in the Bible. St Paul spent his whole life after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus seeking the answers. He phrased is simply with 2 questions:

1. Who Are You?
2. What do you want me to do?

His hope kept him alive through everything. I grew into Faith that the Romans could ony stop in this World by cutting off his head.

Major questions today are "what's for dinner" or "when does the game start?" We have been fooled into thinking these are the meaningful questions. Answers like "get a degree", "get a promotion" or "stay in your cubicle" catrate us from living the life God has intended. We need to use our imagination to give us Hope, our Hope to feed our Faith, and our Faith to proceed into living the dream.

Then we need to ask God to expand it. Our Longing will be fulfilled.

We will have Life.