Sometimes you go somewhere with a purpose. There’s a reason, a plan and an expectation. Most of the time, it comes close. Sometimes though, it’s nothing like what it should be.
I feel like that’s been my summer so far. I went in expecting it to be the best summer yet, and with the intent impacting externally. But so far, it’s been the most… uh… difficult summer yet, with the impact being internal – the battlefield of my heart.
With all the crap I’m trudging through this summer, it may be possible that I’m here for one reason and one reason alone – completely different than any of my previous intentions and expectations.
A wise leader of mine once said in regards to studying the Bible, “Why are we so concerned about learning more information? How are you doing with the information you already know? Take forgiveness, for example. You could spend a lifetime just trying to learn that.”
That’s definitely been the common theme. I’m being challenged to forgive, in newer and deeper ways and forms and instances than I’ve had to before. Of course, forgiveness always has an unwanted precursor – pain. The greater the lesson in forgiveness always requires a greater pain.
Life is full of unexpected lessons. Sometimes they’re small and subtle, found in the slight nuances of everyday. At other times they’re obtrusive and harsh, dominating and altering an entire season of the year, or even season of life. We’re not defined by these intrusions, but rather who we are through them and after them.
And the very things that seem to almost destroy us, may just be the very things that are necessary to save us from ourselves and who we are becoming.