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This Is Why

Over the past few weeks, our family has been watching hours of behind the scenes in The Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition. It's been interesting to get a bird's eye view into the minds of the movie makers and actors in the movies. In the spirit of The Lord of the Rings, I've decided to give you a behind the scenes look at my last post.

Coping with aging has been an ongoing battle for me for the last few years and I’m sure I am not alone in this. As a Christian, I live against the backdrop of a known and secure ending. It is a comfort. But arriving at the end is something like the voyage taken in Pilgrim’s Progress. For all Christian knows where he is headed, he finds himself enticed away from the path leading to the Celestial City again and again into places where he does not belong.

The Bible is my favorite book for many reasons. The one that is pertinent to this post is that all of the characters, apart from Christ, are shown as frail creatures. They are not polished, perfect, Sunday people. They swear; they are jealous; they are prideful; they are depressed; they get angry; they are just like me. The men and women in the Bible come face to face with their own depravity. Perfection is well beyond their grasp. Mine too.

I am at an exploring place with my writing. When I originally wrote the Wildflower post, I wrapped it up with thoughts of how earthly beauty doesn’t matter because my heavenly future is beyond my wildest dreams. Somehow it sounded trite. We live in the here and now and slog through a lifetime of sanctification and it’s not a neat and tidy process. Sometimes we are knocked down time and again by unsavory thoughts and or actions. Sometimes we never achieve victory in certain sections of our life on this side of heaven. I think Christians are particularly guilty of avoiding looking sin full in the face for fear we might somehow be contaminated by it. We are! Apart from Christ, we are covered up in the stuff! I think, from time to time, we must take a long hard look at our shortcomings in order to realize how desperate we are. And in the course of time, by doing so, we come to see God at work in exactly the place where we need him most. And this is why I chose to write Wildflowers in such a somber tone.

Comments

I agree - our Heavenly Father knows are frame and shows it by giving us so many examples in Scripture of people who "blow it" but are still loved by - and used by - the Lord. It is a great comfort for this jar of clay!
Meg said…
Yep...covered up...that is so true. God has been so faithful to continue to show me the areas of sin in my life...where I fall short, but He is just as quick to remind my heart that my righteousness is already bought and paid for...my Jesus is my righteousness...already seated in heaven...mmmm...what a great feeling!
Kathy said…
Kate, it's good to see you posting a little more. I appreciate your transparency. Your Wildflower piece, with the ideas of passing the baton (I'm mixing metaphors horribly here) was very thoughtful. How DO we deal with our mortality? Good thoughts and insights.
Mary@notbefore7 said…
A beautiful look into your heart. Thanks for sharing. We don't get perfection and complete restoration this side of heaven. Boy that can be tough as we struggle. I think you painted a very real picture of life on this side of heaven. I sent this link to several non-blogger friends because I thought your conclusion was so dead on!

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