However, much needed rain had seeped into the hardened cliff
facades and loosened rubble. I rounded a curve and had to break for rock debris
littering both directions of travel. Navigating fallen impediments in the road
was strangely familiar. During much of last year, I encountered lots of broken-off
bits and pieces from weakening walls within myself.
Looking back, I could
see that my journey with my word for the year, pursue, was necessary…to get through such troublesome stretches.
In 2013, what I really desired was smooth, straight roads without
obstacles. Post-hormonal, empty-nester, easy street meant no schedule to limit me, no
goals to pressure me, no structure to
confine me, and no conflict to stress
me. If I could just make certain that all my no’s insulated me, then I would be
free to pursue relational and
missional goals. But insisting on all those no’s was far from freeing; pursue had
become more about resisting and avoiding than developing.
Gripping onto no’s at every curve or bump in the road was
exhausting. Resisting schedule, goals, structure and conflict resulted in
getting nowhere…and often left me stalled at the bottom of a climb. Running on
empty and unable to make the grade, I allowed a couple of hitchhikers…just for
the company. I did not realize how loud they would be. Overwhelmed and
overpowered, I was displaced to the back seat. To avoid further confrontation, I
sunk low into the well-worn leather of the back seat. Even though I was reasonably
comfortable, I had no idea of where these hijackers were taking me.
Relaxing into back seat bondage is not without personal loss.
Staci Eldredge describes the costs of avoiding and hiding in her book,
Captivating:
We hide our truest
selves and offer only what we believe is wanted, what is safe. We act in
self-protective ways and refuse to offer what we truly see, believe and know.
We will not risk rejection or looking like a fool. We have spoken in the past
and were met with blank stares and mocking. We will not do it again and will
hide because we are afraid…To hide is to remain safe, to hurt less. And so by
hiding we take matters into our own hands. We don’t return to our God with our
broken and desperate hearts. And it never occurred to us that in all our
hiding, something precious is also lost—something the world needs from us very,
very much.
The hijacked journey of pursuit took a turn for the worse as
I realized I had been moving away from all that was important to me…God,
relationships and the real me. Henry Cloud put words to this distance in Changes that Heal, “And when we are hiding, [our true selves] are not in relationship
with God and others….and without relationship, without attachment to God and
others, we can’t be our true selves. We can’t be truly human.” Yes, something
precious was getting lost.
One day in mid-November pursue
showed up in a radically different context. Pursue
appeared on one slide among many from the workshop presenter. And that one
slide was like my own burning bush miraculously speaking directly to me, “You
are worth being pursued by God.”
God seized pursue away
from my hijackers and then presented
it back to me. Pursue was not about me defending my space, my desires, my self…
triggered avoiding and hiding. Nor was it just about pursuing goals, freedom and a life all about me. Those were
diversionary pursuits compared to my being worth being pursued…by God.
Pursue was about
relationship after all…God unconditional love for me. And pursue was about mission too…God’s mission to draw me out of hiding
and into the world where I have something precious to offer.
What can be different
knowing that you too are worth being pursued by God?
If God is leading you, don’t hesitate to share with the rest
of us below. You never know how God will use your story to bless someone else. If
we do not speak up, something the world
needs from us very, very much could remain hidden. No more hiding, eh?
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