Life is messy. Toxic messy.
We try to live each day as best we can, but each day seems to try to pull our collective rugs out from under us.
Loved ones will do stupid things, destroying their lives and maybe even a little of ours, and we can do nothing to change it.
We make stupid mistakes that hurt our hearts and the hearts around us.
Things happen. Disasters happen. Sickness happens.
Life happens.
We rush to keep our “to-do’s” in order, as if trying to keep a handle on so many “things” will help us pull ourselves out of a drowning life.
We think, “Maybe if we can make it look alright on the outside, it will be alright on the inside?”
We place our hands on things that we feel like we can control and we try to feel “in-control.”
And we feel, even in our grasping, like we are only hanging on by the barest thread.
It’s so easy to fall into living like this: a life ordered after our own ideas of control, desperately trying to “manage” what will not be managed. We seek peace with desperation, but we can’t find it.
It’s so easy to get to this place, but we hate being here. We hate living life by perpetually holding on to this thread when we are in a hurricane. A thread, all between us and death.
Death of hopes.
Death of dreams.
Death of loves.
Death of the inner parts of self.
Is there another way to live?
Is there another way to order a life? Another foundation on which to build?
I’ve known for years what it feels like to live life by that thread. Perpetually fighting off depression and despair, feeling like if you let go for even one moment your head will fall below water and you’ll never find your way back to the surface.
But there is a rock in the middle of this storm.
There is a hope in the middle of this storm.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain cam down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27
“I don’t need a Sunday School lesson Joy!” you say, “I know all these stories. I go to church. I don’t need a pat answer! I’m dying here!”
But it isn’t a pat answer!
How often have I thought similar thoughts.
Why does it take us so long to fully understand? Do we ever fully understand?
If He isn’t the foundation of our lives, our lives are crushed.
But to be the foundation of our lives, He must be our foundation every day.
We don’t build our lives once. It is perpetually being built! Every day we are building.
And every day starts with a foundation.
What did you build it on today? Is it on the rock today? Or on shaky ground?
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:6
They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. Psalm 78:35
Today I build my foundation in this moment. It is 10am as I am writing these words. This here, these words, these remembrances, this foundation.
I didn’t know what I was to write today. I literally sat down with a title in my head and a first sentence. I journeyed through familiar questions and I found a familiar refuge as I looked into His familiar eyes.
As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. Psalm 18:30
Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Psalm 31:3
Lead and guide me today. And today, and today, and today.
I’ll admit to you I’m not good at this ordered way of living. I’m good at sleeping in and then rushing and barely fitting Him in and hoping that will do. But then He isn’t the center. It is when He is the center that my world falls into place. Then I can step back and see through His eyes, truly trust with my heart, and know peace.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:2
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1
Build here today, my friend. Build here in the storm, build here in the calm. Let Him lift you and shelter you. Lift your eyes to Him in praise.
Build every day on Him and order a life.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5
Joy Aletheia Stevens
The painting in the image for this post is important to me. My mother painted it and she gave it to me. I’ve always identified with that girl, bathed in light in the middle of the storm. The name of the painting is Hope.
The rights to the painting belong to my mother and cannot be used without permission. Thanks.
I agree with you on this post. We rest our dreams, our plans, our prayers on a solid foundation. There are clues on the type of foundation you are laying. If filled with anxiety and worry, then your desires are on a foundation of sand. If there is peace, joy, and contentment with your present, and your future, then the foundation you are building today is a solid one. Thanks.
Yes definitely. And we must remember that this is something we do, not just once, but every day. I think often as Christians we kind of feel like, “I prayed the prayer, now everything should be fixed!” instead of realizing this is about a lifestyle of worship, a relationship that must be nurtured, and leading a disciplined life. That doesn’t discount grace, because it is only by His grace we can do this, but we can’t expect to ignore our walk and still have His peace.