Beyond the dream

"Has God not made foolish the wisdom of this world?"
1 Corinthians 1:20.

It's been a week of contrasts.
Poor health, shaky job prospects (again), and unexpected pain have run alongside being presented with an award at work, enduring various hardships, and being both staggered by and able to express something of the amazing historical validity of Christianity (not to mention the sheer joy of now having a computer that's allowed me to re-engage with my photography afresh).

As I lye seeking to resolve some unexpected trouble yesterday from eating something which seriously disagreed with me, I was keenly reminded of my own mortality for the third time in a week.

Times like this are so necessary, because it's so easy for us to think we're self reliant, and that can easily slip into us becoming entirely self referential. Being stopped by poor health or difficult circumstances is often good for us, because it allows us to re-focus on what counts - to re-gain our bearings and look beyond the immediate.

My experience yesterday took me straight back to the cross and the empty tomb. Those are the moments that define what counts, because it's there that God deals with the whole problem of fallen people, and tells us that there is indeed something beyond now, and it's a something worth having, because it is entirely focused upon and accomplished by unmerited love and mercy.

People often want to argue with Paul's words about the wisdom of the cross being something which towers above the  wisdom of our world, but once you see Jesus' death and resurrection for what it is, then you come to understand that when you boil it all down to what counts, all we really have is that wisdom - everything else, including me and you, are going to be gone. Only God's renewing work makes the difference.

I'll face another week, no doubt tripping over myself in all manner of ways, and knowing that my tiny life is pretty short, but I'll also know that His great love and care lasts forever, so whatever my condition or circumstances, I can know rest in the trials of life.