In our life, it is easy to find yourself in a place where you wonder what’s it all about. Why am I not where I think I want to be? Why is this happening to me? You may not be in a “sh#t” show; however, it feels like one.
Perspective
Having had a few tours of duty in hell in my life, I can relate to this. It is rather hard to notice anything else when you are in those places. It takes over until you get to the location where you decide enough is enough.
I like to refer to the “hitting bottom” by essentially using a metaphor of falling into a large, dark, and damp hole. As you fall down it, you look down, and all you see are dark and damp things. Your mind tricks you because you have no idea what’s ahead of you since it is dark and wet. As you fall, you bang into things; they reinforce what a “sh!t” show you are in. You prepare for the next one with, perhaps, even more fear and uncertainty because that last smack hurt big!
When you finally hit bottom. Catch your breath. Wipe off the dirt. Gather yourself; you look around. Oddly, you are happy you finally hit bottom. As you look around, there is no other place to fall. You are still alive. You are for sure beat up and perhaps exhausted from the fall. However, you are now at rest. Your heartbeat slows. You can feel all the aches and pains. You can scream, cry, and you can go crazy.
As you look down, you realize no further falling. You’ve hit the lowest point in this hole you found yourself in. So now you get to look up. You might not want to. After all, it was a very long and hard fall. You ache and most probably feel very alone. Still, since your heartbeat has slowed, you’ve caught your breath, and you can’t fall any further, you look up.
What you see is light. It might be faint. It might look small. But you know the light. You might even start to feel the fresh air. Your senses begin to feel hopeful. You now are experiencing some faith.
Of course, you look around and see dark and wet places. Maybe even some creatures are there to keep you where they want you. You do know this isn’t the place you want to stay. You have to heal from that fall—the bruising you took. However, you really can’t wait for all the healing. You have to begin the journey up toward the light.
As you start your climb, you slip and fall. Again you feel pain and desperation because as you go to the light, it just seems too hard. Many give up and never try again. They adapt to this new place and stay with those creatures. They decide that it is not worth the effort to go back toward the light. But you have something in you that doesn’t want to stay where you fell. Things will be different if you can get back up to the light. You are now obedient to the process of getting out.
So you start your climb again. This time, you are a bit more careful. You look for support as you climb from that hole you fell into. When the pain returns, you might have to rest on the ascent. But you test it and take that next step up. You grab hold of that next secure place and continue. The light becomes more intense as each step is made. The air gets cleaner. You feel more warmth, and the aches and pains disappear.
When you were falling, all you’d see was down. But as you look up, you see hope and have a destination you are more in control over. It, of course, takes work. It is not easy. But that hope of getting to a new place, a place not dark and damp, helps you take that next step and the one after that. Your awareness of this hope is realized.
Once you get out of that hole and are in the light, you feel it. With the warmth, your lungs can breathe again, and the tension from climbing out is gone. You feel this wonderful embrace. As you stand there, just thankful you are no longer in that dark and damp place, you are still a bit dirty, your clothes smell, you hunger and thirst, and you are exhausted from that climb. If you are lucky, you have others in the light that welcome you. You might have a few in that light look at you and keep walking away. You begin to live in this light between those that will help and yourself. It might seem familiar, but you know it will be different. You just came out of a horrific fall, and it took a lot of time to recover. You are a new version of yourself. A fresh new experience that is mostly behind you. Time to live again but this time in the light and looking up. Trusting in the light and never wanting to fall into a deep, dark, and damp hole again.
When life hits us with those things that make us look down, we need to turn around and look up. We need to look towards heaven. Towards the cross. Towards the light that is God. Find our place with God and understand that he takes us just as we are and loves us. That love that heals and accepts us is the love we must share.
We all fall into holes. We all have those feelings at one time or another. Some have it much harder than we do, but a “sh!t show” is a “sh!t show.” You can feel comfortable when you look around and realize yours might not be as bad as another’s. You probably should. That’s where your compassion and willingness to help another, through your story, are part of that love that God wants us to have.
We should never really compare ourselves to others; after all, God uniquely created us. Many people will have it easier, look better, have more, and get away with many things in this earthly place. Plenty of people struggle a great deal, are alone, lack hope, have no place to go, and so on. We do not have to look far to find something easier or harder than our circumstances.
So, the point here, God and you are together if you welcome Him. He’s there even when you don’t patiently wait for when you do. He accepts you and only desires you to pursue knowing Him more. You do this by making Him front and center. You learn about Him through whatever means you can. You remain in a daily connectedness; as you experience things, you do it with God. With Faith that he exists, Love for Him, Obedience to His Word, Awareness of His presence, Trust in His process and Surrender to His will, your life will be much more complete than you could ever imagine. I refer to this as FLOATS.
I try to make every day a FLOATS day. I do not always succeed, but I FLOATS more than I don’ts!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the holes I’ve fallen into. Thank you for being with me as I fell and helping me climb out. Thank you for being my cheerleader, healer, teacher, and inspiration. I genuinely do not know how I could live without you. I love you, Father. Please keep my family and friends safe. Help all that read these words get deeper rooted in you and always look towards the light. I pray all this in the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord. Amen.
Comments