Well Worn Track.
Elie Wiesel famously said that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. In a world full of hate, and rejection and cynicism, I wonder, is God is most grieved when he is forgotten? We who have seen the God of all glory, who know the story of sacrifice, who’ve tasted even an ounce of the purest love - we forget him. In our big dreams and our little responsibilities, our maintaining friendships and going for walks, in making our dinner and hopefully leftovers, our responding to messages and did we drink enough water today, our remembering to wash our faces and turn the fan on before switching off the light - we forget him. How, I’m not so sure. It seems our neglect is mostly accidental, that we vacillate and procrastinate with well-meaning intentions of eventually getting around to God.
I don’t know why I delay it. I have experienced friendship with Jesus, a love that is so constant and ever-ready to receive me, in my heaviest grief, my foulest bitterness, and my brightest joy. Now married, I know the delight of my husband coming home from work, of quiet conversations before we sleep and of the midday calls just because I can’t wait to tell him about it all. I can’t imagine the day I might forget to talk to my husband or hesitate to spend a little time loving him, counting anything trivial as more important than us. So how can I not remember to love the one who has loved me most?
On him, my whole day leans, my very personality is founded. Everything I am is the result of his kindness. Everything I see is his beauty. Everything I have, his generosity. And when I wander, even for a moment, all is death. There is no life to be found outside of his path to paradise. And when I give myself to honorable pursuits and good things as a means to delay my drawing close to God, I am losing. I am lost for words as I pray for the first time in a while, like sleepy eyes squinting in the daylight or a car sitting for months on end. But as I sense him come near, feeling his gentle touch on my shoulder, I am reminded of just how beautiful it is to be with him. The greatest accomplishment in a day I could ever boast, is not the progress made in my project, the lists completed or the preparation made.
Today I drew close to God, and I loved him.
*Well Worn Track was inspired by John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.