Clear as a Fog

"A constant straining to see what is coming next can be like pulling up roots to see what is growing. ...Were we doing what we had come for? Were we being prepared for something ahead? Were we teaching other people. ...Or were we learning more than we could in any course of study by listening? Could we tell just what point history itself had come to? Could we tell anything about the point we had arrived in our own history?

"Clear as a fog. We were sitting in a fog, needing once more to trust the Lord to take us safely to the next stepping stone.

"A day at a time, life was being lived; a day at a time, a work was in progress; a day at a time, a foundation was being laid in the area of ideas as well as attitudes and atmosphere. If anyone had asked us right then, "What have you come over here for? What are you preparing for in the future?" we would probably have said, "We are doing it."  

From The Tapestry by Edith Schaeffer

I was encouraged this week by Edith Schaeffer's perspective on the many days (and years) that look like our life and plans are "on hold" or losing their way. Chronic illness can be such a thick fog that one feels stuck, clinging to the same precarious stepping stone where you were when pain took over. The river is raging inches from your face while others are standing tall above the fog and passing you by. But you must stay until God clears the way for you.

As the days stretch into months and years you may start to ease out of the crisis mode that kept you simply holding on for dear life. You begin to raise your head and look around again. But there is still no strength to take the leap to the next stone - even if you could see it. 

What do you do then? 

Well... you live! You realize that this is life, right now - the life God has given you.

It can be tempting to focus on two extremes:
   -To think that this kind of life is useless and will never go anywhere
   -Or to wonder what "big task" you are being prepared for through this trial
But even such hopeful wondering can sometimes be a distraction from the importance of today. 

"...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands" 
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NIV)

"This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." 
- Psalm 118:24 (ESV)