“Because we know what we had, what we lost, and what we want, we’ll start again.”

A thought by Maria Goff (2017-03-07) from her book, Love Lives Here: Finding  What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want (Kindle Location 382). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Maria is telling here of a fire that destroyed their Lodge. 

They live in San Diego but she says, “The Lodge is a place we built in Canada, which has become a place of rest for all of us. It isn’t the easiest destination to visit. In fact, it’s pretty difficult to get to. The only way in is by boat or seaplane. There are no roads or power lines or water lines for a hundred miles in the shortest direction and a thousand miles in the longest.”

She continues, “Because we know what we had, what we lost, and what we want, we’ll start again. We’ll cut the logs, stack them high, and fill the new Lodge with new memories. We decided there’s not much we’d want to change this next time around. Maybe we’ll put in a couple fire sprinklers, but who knows.” 

She says, “The biggest mistake we could all make in our lives is to rebuild things we’ve outgrown or to live in constant fear that we might lose what we have all over again. It won’t be the fires that destroy our lives and our faith. It will be obsessing over not getting burned again that will.”

I know so many people who obsess over what has happened to them in their past.   Their past keeps holding them back from living in the now and living with hope for their future.  I hurt for them in what they have lost but also for the life they are losing.

She goes on, “Early on, I thought it was a little strange when people described Jesus’ message as ‘good news’ when what Jesus actually said is if we followed Him we’d suffer loss. Tremendous loss. A lifetime full of it. More than we can ever imagine. Painful, searing, dream-crushing losses. He said if we did it right, it would eventually even cost us our lives. If that’s the good news, it kind of makes you wonder what the bad news is. There will be people we put our confidence in who will fail us. There will be relationships which should have gone wonderfully right, and they will go horribly wrong. What I’m learning is that the good news in our faith isn’t found in avoiding the pain, but in living through the loss, walking through the ashes, and stacking the logs once more knowing they could burn down again.  What has been growing inside of me is a confidence that whatever it is we put our efforts into, it’s God’s, and He can do whatever He wants with what we build in our lives.”

She later says, “Don’t let pain keep you from going to deep places, from doing some work on your hurts so you can get on with the important business of living the rest of your life. Sad is okay, stuck isn’t helpful.”

So, are you feeling sad and stuck?