Living Into Life
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“This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.” I John 4:9
I shared dinner with my siblings this past week, and we talked about memories of growing up. We each had different memories and our perspective on events had a different slant, but we laughed together as we shared these memories of our childhood. I was asked by a friend this week what were my earliest memories of childhood. My first thoughts were of my Grandma and her home. I immediately could walk in my mind through my Grandma’s house and see everything on the walls, the furniture, her chair with her Bible beside it, all her salt and pepper shakers in her china cabinet, her kitchen and the cookie container. I could even smell her homemade soap, her cookies, and the smell of spring through her windows. The memories of my Grandma and her house filled me with happiness and a feeling of comfort. I loved my Grandma and continue to love her in my heart. I was living for a moment in these memories, and they filled me with life and joy.
Oh, the memories that flood our souls as we think of our loved ones. We remember life with them, and the challenges shared that created this life. It was a life, and we were living in it believing this would be our life forever. Then life changed. Our hopes and dreams were shattered. We will no longer live that life.
Our grief slows down our living, and we exist and survive moment by moment for awhile. It takes everything within us to just make it through the day and complete the necessary tasks of life. We are walking an unfamiliar path without focus and purpose. We feel alone wondering haphazardly through the maze of each day. We are surviving barely without meaning and purpose, but we have a routine to follow and think that should be enough. We are existing.
In this journey, we begin to believe just existing in survival mode is not enough. We desire to live, but all we know is the life we used to have, and it does not exist. Living to us means the life we had with our loved one. Living is more than the past; it is also the present. We need to live in moments, to allow ourselves moments of actual living. Living means we are present in what is happening around us, and we are present with people and with ourselves. We can live even if we are alone because we are never alone. God is always with us. God is always living in us, around us and goes before us.
As we journey further down the road and ponder the idea of living into life again, we wonder how we take this step. We have a desire to not just exist in our old routine, but it has become so familiar though empty. We want to live into life, but taking the risk seems so overwhelming. We may even begin thinking about things we want to do and places we want to visit and people we want to see. It is like a “bucket list” toward living the life you now have. It is not the life you chose, but the memories of the past can still fill your heart with joy. These memories are alive in you. They give you life and hope and joy if you allow these memories to focus you forward not just back into the sorrow and loss.
Living into life means taking steps no matter how small to experience this different life. It is moving toward new opportunities and challenges. It is holding God’s hand as you navigate a new path in life. It is taking the memories and experiences of your life with you as your foundation and building upon them. Living into life will take you in a new direction and God will lead you. Just take His hand.
