The Beginning & The End
After seeing so many medieval castles, armor, and weaponry, I am really happy we are not living during the dark ages, but I'm also really envious in other ways. Everyone must have had such a distinct and consistent awareness and appreciation for life itself.
The Middle Ages were anything but "middle living." They were in the beginning of a battle or the end at any given time. Battling nearby towns, corrupt kingdoms, or unknown pestilence, there was no time for middle. Today, we get stuck in the tedious middle all the time.
It is in the middle that intentional suiting of one’s armor is required. Life is fragile at both its start and finish. Our bodies give way to death more easily as infants and elderly. At the book ends, we strongly sense the battle and our need for preparation. The uncertainties birth great vigilance. But in the middle, we are liable to become so comfortable that we miss the thief. The one that comes to steal, kill, and destroy us in our comfort.
Much the reason guards change posts every so often is due to their need for a fresh start or a solid end. Like security guards in art galleries, we don’t want to stare at the same portraits all day long. Ours eyes may glaze over, and we'll miss the real menace right in front of us. When we are in the long standing middle staring at the same routine, we lose sight of where we started, yet we are unable to see when we will end.
Our lifestyle of late, living with constant movement, daily changes, and irregular rhythms has caused a severe alertness. At first this was taxing on our emotions, but once our souls adjusted, it procured a lifesaving attentiveness. We have been so aware of our need for armor and our dependency on God, not only to grant our literal daily bread, but also to grant us victory in the real daily battles.
We must never get so cushioned in our deeply-rooted, oversized chairs that we in the least neglect our armor or in the worst disregard the armor’s preeminence to our survival. Our depth of dependence on God will determine our victory over everything that sets itself up against Him.
Another shift is coming, and with it, I sense a new battle, but the end of something is just like the beginning. Only in the beginning we feel nervous excitement, and in the end we feel grateful nostalgia. I am so very grateful for these past five months, but I want more than anything to continue living like its either the beginning or the end so that I don't lose my awareness of my dependence battle. We are not reliant on ourselves, but on God alone.
"No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you."
(Psalm 33:16-22)
~Ending Carefully & Carelessly
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