We. Are. Adopting!
Your words echo back to you with exhilarating confidence and then fade away into the distance...
adopting... adopting... adopting...
And you're confident that after reading all the stories, and after witnessing all the little miracles that got you to this place, all the challenges ahead of you in this journey are going to play out like this:
And some of them do.
Some however play out like this:
...aaaaand hello Fire Swamp.
Does your grand vision still exist, is it there? Yes. It's obscured by trees, the dark of the valley, the ducking and dodging of spitting fire, over-sized rodents and quick sand, and the tending of your own wounds... but it's still there.
If you have a propensity towards self-reflection, it is tempting to become ungracious with yourself. "Why can't I be standing back on my little hill? Why can't I see my vision of mountains and glory? What have I done wrong on this journey to be so disconnected from my destination?" And fear sets in...
But you learn. There is more beyond the limit of your tree-filled vision. It is dark here, but light beyond.
And as Wesley says, "No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt - no problem. There's a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too. "
As for the ROUSes... I'll address them in another post.
Someone who has read the story before (or watched the movie) can tell you that either way, a glorious leap of faith or a tumble into the valley, doesn't determine the end of the story. But it can make you stronger, and more faithful and make the ending that. much. sweeter.
No comments:
Post a Comment