Howdy everybody;

Been a little bit since I had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts long enough to put them down on the PC parchment, and tonight really is no different. I’ve come across so many in recent days that are hurting for one reason or another that I wanted to post a quick comment of hope.

A few years ago, a dear friend pointed out the very poignant beginning of Scott Peck’s classic self-help book titled “The Road Less Traveled” (not to be confused with my all-time favorite poem by Robert Frost called “The Road not Taken”). The first three words of the book…simply, “Life is difficult.”

Ain’t that the truth.

Is it any wonder that Christ talked about having a childlike faith in order to reach heaven’s gates?  You know…think about what that really means…journey with me for a minute and see if it comes into clearer focus for you. The idea of childlike faith immediately conjures up images of looking outside for Santa Clause, wondering when the Easter Bunny is coming, or wondering exactly how the Tooth Fairy works. But to stop there is to leave so much undiscovered.

What about when life turns difficult?  Children, like the rest of us, lose those beliefs in things like Santa – regardless how strongly we fight it. Their perfect world becomes tarnished – sometimes slowly, and other times so quickly we wish we knew the secret of turning back time.

It continues to happen once we become adults. Think about those who dreamt of the perfect marriage?  Or those who dreamt of happy healthy families only to be challenged with something they never imagined?  Or those maimed in inexplicable accidents?  Those whose life just very plainly turned out far different than they’d ever imagined?

So what is childlike faith?  It is a continued wonder and awe at exactly what Christ did for us…what God did for us by sending His Son to pave a way for our eternal happiness. It is a complete denial to the forces against our happiness. It is looking at every moment in life as exciting…even when our complacency and cynicism might just overpower us into laziness and apathy. It is a continual pursuit of holiness regardless of those inevitable difficult setbacks.

Does it make life any less difficult?  Probably not. Does it make it much more manageable?  I sure think so.

I’ve often written of choice in our lives. I am a result of the choices I’ve made in my life. Period. There’s no sense in dwelling on that. It is what it is. So many try to find blame that they can cast on themselves – from perfectionists who do it as a means of self-motivation to pity-party-connoisseurs who love nothing more than to grab attention from anyone they can all for the sake of attention. Is that childlike faith?  No…no way. Let me put it a different way and this is addressed specifically to those of you reading this who consider yourselves Christians (with all due respect to those of you who believe otherwise): Would anyone looking at you while you cast blame on yourselves really see that as a great lifestyle to follow?  Would that attract those onlookers to this faith you proclaim?  I’m actually chuckling at this…out of guilt. I know the pity parties in my past detracted from my walk of faith…I can’t imagine how many lives I must’ve adversely affected when it came to casting a good image for the face of God.

Childlike faith is simple…forget all you know. The cynics who say “I’m just a realist” – get over yourselves. Now. The pity partiers – drop it. Now. Is this a part of life any of us love?  I guess maybe a few out there really prefer having their needs met in this way…to me it just sounds like a drag. I can’t believe a loving, graceful God would put us here to experience life in this way. In fact…I don’t believe it…I refuse to.

Do I think life isn’t supposed to be difficult?  Of course it is…it’s what makes life life. We all figure out Santa is a hoax…yet as an adult I grab my childhood every year I can to make my kids believe it “one more time.” (You should see the lengths I went through last year!)

It’s the choice (again, there’s that word); the conscious decision we all make as to how we will view and live through those experiences. This is that “marrow of life” we all get to taste. This is what makes that story we tell at the end of the path not taken so good…so unbelievable. We look back, somewhere down the road, offer ourselves a pat on the back and say, “Wow, I can’t believe I made it through that.”

So at the beginning I promised hope buried in this email. I was sitting here tonight with thoughts jumping around of what I’d want to say on this subject when Christian recording artist, Jeremy Camp’s “There will be a day” came on my iTunes. The lyrics sum up best what my hope is. Sure, I hope to be, as Zig Ziglar always said, “happy, healthy, and reasonably prosperous” and I hope for the same for my kiddos. But on a grander scale, I hope for the day when there will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. A day is coming with no more suffering…a day when the burdens of this sometimes-difficult life will fall away and be replaced by something the child in every one of us could call nothing other than heaven.

God bless you all,

Tim

 

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Lyrics to Jeremy Camp’s “There will be a day”

I try to hold on to this world with everything I have
But I feel the weight of what it brings, and the hurt that tries to grab
The many trials that seem to never end, His word declares this truth
That we will enter in this rest with wonders anew

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering

There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

I know the journey seems so long
You feel you’re walking on your own
But there has never been a step
Where you’ve walked out all alone

Troubled soul don’t lose your heart
Cause joy and peace he brings
And the beauty that’s in store
Outweighs the hurt of life’s sting

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering

There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

I can’t wait until that day where the very one
I’ve lived for always will wipe away the sorrow that I’ve faced
To touch the scars that rescued me from a life of shame and misery
O, this is why, this is why I sing

There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face

There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face

There will be a day he will wipe away the tears
He will wipe away the tears
He will wipe away the tears
There will be a day