The Invitation

This post has been in my head for a few weeks.  It started with these words, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and I'll recover your life."  This invitation is bold and the promise seems to good to be true.  I'm tired, worn out, burnt out and discouraged, but there is life for me?  Why can't I accept the invitation?  It's hard to believe there is something good for us when we feel...

isolated, rejected, lonely, empty, inadequate, ugly, confused, alone...or maybe it's just me...

  

But I don't think it is.  I work with crime victims at my internship.  We listen to people recount the worst moments of their lives and try to offer hope, encouragement and ways to recover their lives after trauma.  A few have taken us up on the invitation.  But for many it is too unbelievable to think something good could happen.  The darkness is paralyzing.  In the midst of crisis the last thing we want to do is trust.  

Maybe it's not like that...

All or nothing

Black and white

I think there are some days when we can embrace the invitation and our loads are lightened.  And there are other days when we just can't do it.  That's when we need people to tell us the truth.  My best friend sent me this necklace when I needed to hear the truth...

The card said this:

"'Just when it seems like we will never smile again, life comes back.'  I got you something to remind you of some things.  

Feather-Live free and light (Matthew 11:28)

Horseshoe-not for luck, but to catch all the love and to hold it until you need it.

Bird-flying high above the temporary...

Stone-to keep grounded in the deep things you know and remind you that you are brilliant in color and beauty...

I do know that even when it is wierd and a little ugly down here He is still good and His love for you is unmeasurable without expectation..."

Another friend sent me this excellent excerpt from Uncle Tom's Cabin.  She said, "I know you will overcome."  In chapter 38 Cassy says to Tom, "I'd a done it myself, only my arms are so weak."  I've finally stopped long enough to realize I can't do it by myself.  

Sometimes I need someone else to accept the invitation on my behalf.  But either way I come...and slowly, daily, life is restored.    

P.S. I have the best friends in the whole world.