At the dawn of a new life, victory is inevitable. The grass
is greener, the sun is brighter, the air is crisper. Your feet are set on the
foothills and your face is turned toward the mountain top. You begin your
journey with zeal and passion, ready to face all adversity.
When you encounter your first obstacle, you meet it head on,
filled with joy and determination. You mount up and fly over the troubles and
when you land on the other side, you arrive a bit wiser, your faith a bit
stronger.
But day turns into night, turns into month, turns into year.
The precipices grow increasingly wider and the storms become monsoons. You are
battling forces beyond your realm and beyond your abilities. Your strength
wanes as you hobble lamely through the dark valleys, leaning heavily on the
strength of His rod and staff. At times you can do nothing but sit beneath The
Rock, taking shelter until the storm passes. At other times you feel the wind
at your back and run swiftly through the storm, finally outrunning it to find
quiet skies.
After yet another exhausting battle, you recline beneath the
Rock and reflect on your journey thus far. With nostalgic longing you reminisce
on days of old, when your faith was new and when victories were abundant. You
begin to wonder if you have failed on this voyage. You grow weary more often
than not, and it is difficult to recall the last great victory. Perhaps this path
was meant for one younger than yourself? Perhaps you should simply turn
around. God couldn’t mean for you to continue
on such a path, could He? Didn’t He call you to victory?
But then as you recall your long journey a new picture
begins to emerge in your mind. You remember your first encounter with the
voices in the night, the ones which screamed and whispered assaults against
you. You recall in detail how hurtful their words were and how difficult it was
to ignore them. Yet by His grace you made it past.
Then you remember the next encounter with the intrusive
voices. Their words still stung a bit and it was still a little hard to ignore
them, yet not as hard as before. You made it past quickly and without
stumbling. A victory? Perhaps.
Your mind then reflects on the moment you were asked to
cross the raging waters. You stood petrified on the shores, sure you would be
smashed to bits should you attempt to cross. It took you a very long while to
figure out the best way to plan this endeavor. Finally you glanced up to see a
Vine hanging from the trees above. It occurred
to you that you could tie this vine around your waist and wade into the
current. Although it frightened you to trust the Vine would hold, you knew this
was the only answer given. So gingerly you tied this life-line around your
middle and stepped off into the untamed flow of water. The crossing was precarious
and took precious time, but eventually your feet landed on solid ground.
You then recall your next encounter with the raging river.
This time you did not hesitate to grab hold of the Vine, your salvation, and
plunge freely into the waters. Yes, you were saturated and yes, at times you
were almost immersed. But you made it safely to the other side, stronger than
before you began.
As you reflect on the steps in your journey, a smile begins
to play at the corners of your lips. Soon you begin to chuckle and very soon a
full, heart felt laugh breaks forth from your soul. You grab hold of the Staff
waiting patiently nearby and pull yourself to standing. As you begin your ascent to the High Places
you do so with a light step again, your heart filled with gladness. For now you
have realized the truth.
Victory does not always come with trumpets and banners. It
is not always widely known or widely seen. More often than not, victories are
won without announcement, one skirmish at a time.
As you round the corner you are bathed in Heavenly light.
Your spirit cries out with joy as you realize your goal. Through Christ we are
more than conquerors! We will run and not grow weary. We will reach the finish
line, we will set our feet upon the High Places.
We end our race as we began, triumphant. For the victory is
His, and the moment we stepped out on Christ’s journey, through Him the victory
became ours as well. Thanks be to God in the Highest. Amen.
Copy write © Sharon Singley 2006
