Peering Through The Mist

I identify with Frank Cunningham’s thought…do you? “I struggle for words, for concepts that freshen my imagination as I escape childhood-induced notions of God.” I think it’s called “growing up in faith”. Eugene Peterson’s translation of the New Testament puts it like this: “When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.” On my list of the hardest things to do in this life is this: to leave perceived certainty behind; to take the chance that God calls us to soar, not settle. That certainly matches the mind of the Jesus I know.

When Mamma Bird took her youngster to the edge of the nest and said: Remember to flap your wings when you jump, she offered her precious little one an opportunity fraught with possibility and with peril. Do you want to stay in the nest, or do you want to ride the wind currents? Consciously or unconsciously, we all make that decision. Safer here…scarier there. But it’s not that simple, is it. Not that clearly defined. Back to Peterson’s conclusion of 1st Corinthians 13: “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting into a fog, peering through a mist.” I believe the sun will break through when I stop looking for new descriptive words, new concepts and begin touching life with my own hands. If you’re tired of the unending chase for new ways to conceptualize God, just go be Jesus for a while. Warning: when you look over the edge of the nest and think: I can’t do that!…trust and try. It’s the only way you and I will discover who and why we are.

If the shoe fits…