Love Letters From God

When a shipwright lays a keel he is not doing so to leave it on the scaffolding. His thoughts are of seeing it move across the seas, sails full, safely carrying through strong winds, even gales and hurricanes. If he is not thinking of the harshest of conditions he is a poor shipbuilder.

In that same way, when God made me a believer He had every intention of making me capable of withstanding life's difficulties. To do so, He was going to allow me to be tested. Sure, He could have just spoken into me all the traits and values He desires to see. But that would do away with what He wanted me to have most - Free Will.

I fall back on an earlier thought here; love is a choice. God wants me to choose to love Him. He has made me hundreds of promises to lure me to Him and I've written of some. But a reality of life is that the fulfillment of His promises does not always bring immediate comfort. The poem Easy to Love http://evenmoreclueless.blogspot.com/2010/07/it-is-easy-to-love-him-when-blue-is-in.html touches on this but stops short of what I truly believe; that God will go to any length necessary to fully develop me.

How can we have rain without clouds? And the blacker and denser the clouds the more life-giving water they contain. Anyone who has pruned roses knows that cutting the canes back severely produces the showiest blooms in the future. And God is certainly going to do in my life what I need done. My Lord's love letters often come in dark envelopes.

I can not estimate the great debt I owe to suffering and pain. If not for them what capacity would I have for any virtues? Where would my faith be if it had not been tested? What patience could I have were there nothing to endure? Without difficult experiences is compassion or empathy possible?

"He has given us his very great and precious promises." (2 Peter 1:4) He delivered on His promise to be with me through my difficulties and I am a man changed to the molecular level. To be free of active addiction would have been more than enough. But He went so much further. Because of compassion I am able to find joy in serving and helping others. Because of patience I am able to bear my burdens without being a burden. Because of faith I can believe. And because of love, I can love.

My old life now seems as dim and unsure as a dream remembered days later.