I’m walking on my way to church. It’s a grey day. It’s sort of raining. Well no, it is raining, it’s just that it’s the sort of rain that doesn’t really seem to get you wet. As I walk I watch as my light blue hoodie turns ever so slightly darker as it’s covered in thousands of tiny uniform spots across it’s surface where it touches the moisture in the air. As I keep walking, I come to a short section of the path which is covered by trees. As I entered, I was surprised to watch as the tiny almost imperceivable speckles across my jumper were replaced by large, dark, sporadic patches where water had gathered on the leaves of the trees above and then descended in large droplets here and there. I mused to myself about how that which appeared to provided shelter had actually made me wetter.
I was clearly not the only one taken in by this deception. As I approached the other end of this little wooded patch, I came across a family huddled together at its mouth peering into the mist ahead considering their next steps. They cowered presumably figuring that if the were getting wet whilst under cover it must be much worse out in the open. As I walked past undeterred, with a cheery hello and into the weather ahead knowing that it was nothing to worry about, my confidence must have left an impression on the family I had left behind. A few moments later they ran past me, no further than a hundred yards from where they had been and into the true shelter of a car down the road which had been waiting for them. All this time they had been waiting in an illusion of safety when a place where they would really be protected from the elements was so close at hand.
As I thought about this, I realised that there where times in my life where moving forward seemed scary or dangerous and so I remained in my pain, thinking that I was burying it, when it was moving forward and confronting it that truly offered freedom. I was also reminder of how close at hand God’s comfort is when I’m willing to admit my pain and ask Him to hold me in it. Of course, God does not always take away our pain, but He journeys with us in it and even has purposes for it. As Jars of Clay sang; “do I want shelter from the rain, or for the rain to wash me clean?”
As we begin to approach Easter, I think of how Jesus stepped out of the shelter of heaven to walk this human life amongst us. Not only that, but to forgo shelter and suffer for our sake. That we might know Him and that He might help us in our struggles. And just as He carried a cross on which He would die for our sake, choosing God’s will and trusting Him rather than His own desires, so, He called His followers to carry their own crosses. Not literal crosses, but rather to trust God and say not my will but yours be done; whether that means walking in the mist or sitting in the car, knowing that wherever we are, Jesus is right beside us.
Originally written for the March 2024 ABC Newsletter
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