I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Spikes and Losses
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Hi Friends, What defines a life well lived? When you’re young, it’s easy to imagine your life stretching out in front of you like a line on graph paper. It ascends predictably, ending in the upper right hand corner. Success! But life is unpredictable. In some moments, it is chaos. I’ve been reading through the life of Moses in scripture these days. There is no sky-rocketing line of success on the graph of his life. In fact, the highs of miraculous wonders and lows of sin and failure spike and fall dramatically and repeatedly. We usually remember the highlight reel: Red Sea parting, enslaved people going free, receiving the 10 Commandments. But the Red Sea parted straight into a wilderness where he would walk the newly freed Israelites around in circles for 40 years. And the 10 Commandments? They lay in pieces at his feet before they ever reached the Israelites. Even days before his death, Moses stood before the people. He preached his last sermon and taught them a song. He told them he knew he would not be permitted to enter the promised land, and he knew the people would turn from all he had commanded them shortly after he passed away. He knew that his mission, by all external metrics, would fail. How did Moses not sink into despair? Here’s my guess: Moses didn’t live on the graph with spikes and losses. He was chasing something different altogether. Moses spent his life chasing God. From the moment he took off his shoes before a fiery, burning bush, he was captured. Moses would climb mountain after literal mountain, his face shining from being in the presence of God. He would talk with God face to face, as a man talks with his friend. He stood in the cleft of a rocky cliff, hearing God tell him His name as He passed by. Yes, Moses chased God, and God knew Moses. This was what defined him. Maybe the ups and downs of our lives, even the wasted desert years, are just a backdrop — mere props and side-plots for the thing that truly matters. Maybe the true narrative of our life is what happens between our heart and God’s. This is the true storyline. And through it all, we are deeply known. I’m beginning to believe this is a life well lived. – Anna |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
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