But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)
| Below the Surface by Cathy Vinson |
Sometimes the humility of
sitting on the bottom of the barrel with no direction to look but up can actually be
easier and more simplified than the grueling track downward. The process of being humbled
is quite painful. Layer after layer of security is being peeled away, and like the rich we
"are pierced with many sorrows" (1 Tim 6:10b). However, as each new piercing is felt, I have found one previously undetected and unappreciated aspect come into view. My memory bank becomes quite active, and I begin recalling the PHRASES and EXPRESSIONS of others who have gone through a similar trial, setback, or letdown. Bonding with them below the surface becomes an encounter with them. Inwardly I am deepened, and I enjoy a new closeness to them. I compare it to walking a path many times and growing so familiar to a certain gray rock beside the path, I pass it without notice. But when my nose is brought to the ground, I am eye-level with the path: I turn over the bottom side of that rock. It is teeming with activity! Busy ants, potato bugs, spiders, and worms have been making their lives there all along. In my days of ease, I wasn't being enriched by all this. Now in uncovering these parts of my soul, I can reach out directly and indirectly toward those who have fellowshipped in similar trials. Such a true sincerity! Richness and vitality come in the place that was dormant. Just think...I could have missed this quite vibrant land below the surface! |
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| "All discipline
for the moment seems not to be joyful" (Heb 12:11 NASB) |
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Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.
Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE
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