sly green leaves mingling in the mix, fitted within a brilliant vase, catching light, turning heads. But something was off.
My arrangement was tilting, tipping, falling. I hadn’t even noticed the shift. I began scrambling to see how to “fix” it — change the shadows and light, pull out some flowers here and add more there— in order to set it back straight and securely on the table, just like I sketched from the very beginning. But beauty came when I allowed it to fall. Those floral conversations separated. The angled leaves became wings. The gold vessel prepared itself for a blow on its end. The letting go gave way to a refined breaking of expectations. I have a white-knuckle grip on the things/people I fear to lose, the things I believe are completely in my control. Holding loosely what I think is perfect or “mine” and allowing the tilting of my expectations causes me to see the beauty of the blows and loosens my heart to accept what is better, though it may be harder. “I’ve learned that we must hold everything loosely because when I grip it tightly, it hurts when the Father pries my fingers loose and takes it from me!” -Corrie ten Boom  Cactus wren, together, looking after one another, communing.
I’ve been reminded over and over lately “it is not good for man to be alone.” Created for community. My weakness, broken wings, and chronic limps are not meant to be self-splinted and covered up in my aloneness. “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his friend. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one there to lift him up!... How can one keep warm alone?” I’ve noticed lately, within our family, our tendency to fight battles on our own. No one sees. And in our self-sufficiency, we wonder how we’re failing to fly. However, we are caught, mended, directed, and strengthened when we open ourselves up to company, what a gracious glory to fight for the thriving of another. This will hand in our home to remind: “Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4) |
