A thought by Ann Voskamp in her book, WayMaker, (p. 34). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
And that is a good thing, yes it is.
Ann says, "Expect nothing but expect hesed. Expect God to knock at your door, expect God to rise on your horizon, expect hope and mercy and miracles and a glass of cold water, but just don’t expect God to come looking any way you expect. Expect nothing but hesed, the lovingkindness of God—just not in the kinds of ways you’d ever dreamed. Pain will come, but name it a mystery, and find manna in it, and taste bits of miracle even in what you can hardly stand and don’t understand."
She continues her story, " 'You okay?' Farm Boy had turned around that snow-globe December night, laughed a bit nervously, making another U-turn at the end of the street. 'I know we’re now kinda late—or actually really late.'
"But maybe, if we’ve already connected, we’ve already arrived. Whatever all the pixelated streams and screens laud as having finally arrived, as being the hit we hunger for, the destination we dream of, the verifiable truth is: Relationship is the only reward that is real, that lasts. Everything else is the journey, everything else is a fleeting mirage. Only relationship is the destination. And he’s being kind, and I am being kind, and doesn’t looking for moments of lovingkindness make a way out of all kinds of pain? A hesed moment, a persistent, unconditional, completely undeserved, dependable lovingkindness—that is what’s falling all around us in the dark, like a luminous dusting of heaven."
She goes on, "Maybe: It doesn’t matter how your road turns, but it matters who you turn and attach to. This is all I know: Presence heals pain. Withness binds up wounds. Bonding eases trauma.
" 'Kinda embarrassing—' Farm Boy winks, downshifts the Volkswagen to turn at the end of Barn Swallow Drive, cranes his head for any sign of the church. 'I mean, maybe it only looks like we’re lost?' How is he speaking in ways that make my heart all ear, to hear things inside of me I’ve never known?"
She then says, " 'Yeah, I’m really okay.' I nod, smile. And I am. Whatever can be said, there is hesed. There is the always hesed-love of withness, the always hesed-love that takes up the road with us, the always hesed-love that keeps pace with us, mile after hard mile, the always hesed-love that goes with us as long as the road goes on. Life isn’t about arriving—it’s about hesed-attachment. Our deepest dreams aren’t about mere love, but deeply attached hesed-love; not about mere kindness, but the always kindness of hesed; not about an easy way, but the covenanted way of hesed-love through every hard thing. There are people you’d rather be lost with, than arriving anywhere without."
And that is so true. Yes, yes! #continuethought
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