Sunday, January 14, 2007

where there is no vision...

Human beings can live without many things, but they cannot survive without hope. I was reminded of that this morning, hearing the scripture from Proverbs, "Where there is no vision, the people perish". Merely staying alive is not living. There has to be something in our lives that we are reaching for to live well. I have found myself sitting smugly in my 12 step recovery meetings amidst the stories of users trying to find a way out or get through another day, until I realize the slow death lack of trust and co-dependency causes in a life (my life). I strangle hope by not trusting that anything good can happen again, by not accepting risk in my life, by not opening my heart to the new and untried, by trying to control every circumstance and person in my life.

There is something about vision that requires an unfettered heart, capable of belief. In order to reach for something, to try, there first must be the belief that it is possible. Before anything finds it's way into reality, it must dreamed of. Dreams generate reality. The scriptures also boldly proclaim that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith isn't a tangible thing, but its release creates tangible reality. When all seems lost and what is seen and felt smothers our vision, it is time to look beyond the seen, to let go, to walk into the dark.

We are creatures meant to live only one moment at a time. The Our Father says "give us this day our daily bread", not weekly, not monthly. What is required for the moment will be given if we step forward. It is time to step forward. I keep thinking of the scene in one Indiana Jones movie, where to get from point A to point B a bridge was required, yet there was no bridge. It looked like a step forward would mean a plunge into a deep chasm and certain death. But there was no recourse. As it turned out the step forward into the emptiness created the bridge. The vision of what was on the other side of the bridge made the risk of stepping out worth it. To not move would be to perish.

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