Sitting silently on the edge of a foliate mountaintop staring out on the edge of infinity. Far off, the neighboring peak peers its snow-capped summit out of the fog. Darkness can be such a cruel expression. Yet, there it is, as I stare silently into the beautiful abyss heavily ladened with the hazy dimness of dusk. Slowly, I close my eyes for and I feel my heart stumble upon the unknown. Nothingness. Emptiness. I try to fill this void with unreal things. I try to bridge this gap with thin ropes and frayed wires. Peering out once again, I see glimmers of hope faintly in the distance coming from the other mountain. Why is it that we all desire to somehow be a part of something greater than ourselves? Something in our deepest marrow of our existence has a need to be valued. We want the world to see us through a false lens. But what about when the darkness robs the world of all its sight? Nothingness. My bridges have been burned. Burned into nothingness like the empty chasm below. We lose sight of God’s version of the story because it is too good to be true. Holy power crosses the lines of the valley. We never needed to build a bridge to begin with. Maybe that’s how grace really works. And in that moment I am done defending the person I have become. I have a faith that doesn’t deny moments of beauty, but rather embraces them. I have a faith that celebrates these kinds of transcendent moments instead of accounting them as tangents or distractions. I have come to understand that these events culminate to something greater. They act as a sampling-- a small taste of a much greater relationship. And that is what life is. Something greater from the one who first gave us the breath of life. We reflect the beauty and wonder of the one who made us. God gave us life and it is his desire that we live it. I will find beauty through suffering. I will find strength in pain. For the greatest gift I can give another person is a hope. The greatest act I can perform is not to bridge a gap, but to love. Love freely. Love without an agenda.
"Love will not betray, dismay or enslave you. It will set you free."
{Lewis River Trail ’10}
Keep it Real
Sara Nicole
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