October 23, 2010
At the end of a difficult day…
This is truth: that lies become dust, like so much useless ash, in the shadow of the Cross. That stepping close to Christ means shedding the vicious words spat at you and dirty threats levied at you and whatever volume of tears choke you and simply being lifted up by grace, like a sleeping child lifted under the arms or an ocean wave curling its foaming shoulders moon-ward.
If there is nothing else my son learns from me, then let it be that faith requires more of us than just belief. It requires us to look in the faces of our enemies and forgive them. It requires us to know that we are loved and sacred and holy even if we stand alone in a dark room and wrap our arms around our chests to keep our sore hearts from melting out of the spaces between our ribs. To know that there is light in darkness – that even a tiny pinprick dispels the demons. It requires us to come, crawling if we must, toward the Savior on the Cross and accept His death in order that we might have life…and have it in abundance. Even emptiness and want is an abundance of life, if we consider it all as grace.
