A broken tulip

How do we become shining, joy-filled creatures?

By walking the same path over and over and over again. Facing the same temptation, falling for the same sin, thinking the same thought we have already faced, already fallen for, already thought – a thousand times. Each day seems the same, yet each day there is a newly-risen sun at our back. His mercies are new every morning.

People talk about the battle against the powers of darkness. It is a battle, but it really doesn’t have many climaxes or sword-brandishings. It looks like very familiar territory, all over again. It is a slow, agonizingly slow, shifting of the mind and heart onto new paths. It is a painfully slow healing into wholeness.

This battle constitutes of living every moment before the face of God. It is that simple. It is that hard. It is that mundane. It is that incredible. Every thought, every feeling, every desire – held before the face of God. Again. and again. and again.

artwork is by a dear friend, whose life shows this forward cycle of always choosing light.