“Hold me now. In the hands that created the heavens. Find me now. Where the grace runs as deep as your scars. You pulled me from the clay. Set me on a rock. Called me by your name. And made my heart whole again.” – Hillsong United
Lately, I’ve written about some of the lowest feelings in my life. And while I have been walking in the valley of so many things in my life- presently, today I want to write about: Joy. Wholeness. Grace.
The focus of my heart lately has been on walking the middle path. I could have never thought or written these topics without divine intervention of some beautiful people, placed strategically in my life. Walking the middle path is the hardest process I’ve actually ever had to learn. To know that broken and beautiful exist in the same human, it’s mind boggling from the person I was just a few months ago!
So how do we walk this path- the middle one. How are we broken and beautiful? How are we content yet not complacent? How are we incomplete yet whole? See, super hard to understand and justify in the same breath. Then I am reminded that this was Jesus. He was broken before our world, yet beautiful in our salvation. He was content in his calling yet not complacent with the state of the world he was called to save. He came to make our incomplete beings whole again. So now, the middle ground between the two doesn’t sound so awful. It doesn’t sound so out of reach. The middle ground can be a blessing.
Elisabeth Elliot speaks gracefully about the middle path, about doing the next right thing. She says this….
“Like a low inspiration: “DO THE NEXT THING.”
Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing
Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.
Looking for Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering, be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons thee, do the next thing.
– Elizabeth Elliot
Today, I was out in nature. This is the most snow I’ve seen in my lifetime, honestly. I was realizing that God gives opportunities that we really can’t pass up. He gives us second chances in a world that rarely presents them. He fixes our wrongs and puts directly in our faces the right. Oh sweet Jesus, I have struggled. I have wondered where the middle path was, I have wondered why God even made it confusing. I have wondered ‘why me’!? After the tears of the week, today, I finally looked out and I saw so much. I saw bright, love, hope, reverence, peace, perseverance, life, future, and value. I saw the middle path, which may be cliche since I was walking around in snow which didn’t render a distinct path.
Hillsong United sings 100 billion x…. they sing “And as You speak
A hundred billion creatures catch Your breath
Evolving in pursuit of what You said
If it all reveals Your nature so will I
I can see Your heart in everything You say
Every painted sky
A canvas of Your grace
If creation still obeys You so will I”….
Today, I saw such a canvas of grace. A canvas of pure white snow that wipes my sin clean. A canvas of pure white snow that wipes my past clean. A canvas of pure white snow that helps me see that there is newness and grace that can be painted over the pain of what I previously lived.
Elisabeth, Hillsong, the snow, me…. we can all give hope for tomorrow. No matter how the past has been, no matter what people see in us, or don’t see. No matter what people feel or don’t feel, no matter what they think we should do or think we shouldn’t do…. God’s kingdom is the glory and the name above all names. People pass us by, their thoughts pass, their opinions pass… but God’s name stands against and he wrote the future. It is written and it is won, and it is our job to take the snow white canvas and be so thankful he wiped our pasts clean. He took away the crap and gives us clear eyes to a future that is better than we could have written. THANK YOU JESUS!
Sincerely, Sydney. 