My late friend Walter Starke wrote a book titled IT’S ALL GOD, THE FLOWERS AND THE MANURE. It is a paradox but the truth.
The mystery of life is the reality. We go through a thin layer of events covering a more profound truth. I had a series of tough things in my life. I took far too long to close those chapters. Now, I have no emotion attached and refer to those experiences as an illustration of my message. Soon, they will have no substance, and I will not be able to recall them enough to use them as an illustration.
My mother experienced the “Great Depression” in the 1930s and hoarded that sense of poverty all her life. Although she had a good life and ample funds, she was always mentally one step away from the poor house. She had household appliances she wouldn’t use so that they would stay nice. What she focused upon ruled her life. It was not necessary.
The classic movie, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” is about a soldier who comes home from the war. His lady friend questions him about a film they had seen. She asks if that is what war is really like. He tells her, “No. When you are in battle, the war is only 10 feet wide.” The Divine Energy is in remembering the battle and in the willingness to let the fight go. How long do we have to tote that 10-foot box through life before we let go?
These experiences involve human pain, and if we want to expand our horizons, we can focus on the hurt for years and entrap ourselves in the physical matter for generations. Or we can step back, recognize it as a lesson, and move on. We all experience an illumination of our unique darkness.
This is the paradox of being a spiritual being having a human experience. When we can become aware and ask ourselves, “What is going on here?” We have grown and leapfrogged into next-level spiritual growth. We have walked through pain into light and gotten the Eagle Scout patch of soul growth. We are beginning to know the unknown and re-member who we are. The paradox is that God’s energy is in the joy and the pain of life’s lessons. Rev. Pat