Awake My Soul

We are not meant to live life in grayscale.

Do you ever feel like that? Life can sometimes seem like one long exhale. Go to work, pay the bills, make sure the kids do their homework. Recycle. Repeat.

Exhausting.

But what if there was more available to us?

Have you ever read a line in a book that disrupts your heart? Or watch a scene in a movie that stirs something in your soul in such a way that you lose yourself just for a moment?

Aragorn poises himself, sword in hand, as the dark minions of Mordor storm through the gate. He turns to his companions, well outnumbered by the enemy, and smiles, tears in his eyes. “For Frodo…” he says before turning to engage in what may be their final battle.

Merida escapes her parent’s castle on horseback. She is in search of something bigger than the life her mother, the Queen, is preparing her for. She wants mystery and adventure, and when the sprites lead her to the little cottage in the middle of the woods, she opens the door and finds that adventure is indeed waiting for her, and it will alter her life forever.

These scenes awaken something in us, because we too long for something more than cleaning toilets and changing diapers. Adventure. Danger. Companionship. We will gladly pay the price of admission in order to be swept away, even if its only for a couple of hours. A billion dollar industry has been built on these movies plucking at the strings of our heart, one scene at a time.

We live in a world has been knocked off kilter, and yet there is still a piece of Eden in our hearts. We were meant for something more.

We are meant to live in color.

There is a joy available that many of us don’t yet experience because we are consumed with chasing after life instead of experiencing it. And some of us are simply drowning.

Life is hard. This world is hard and it can harden our hearts. Our story is one spilling over with pain and loss. I know. I know this all too well.

But this is exactly why we need to be intentional with our hearts. There is a promise written in every season that one day all things will be restored. Paradise will be ours again soon. Our story ends with a wedding, not a funeral.

We have to hold on to the promise of something more.

Our perspective can change when we allow the hope of restoration to permeate our hearts. There is joy to be found in every day, if we allow ourselves to experience the moment. Adventure. Friendship. Danger, yes. But we are not left to face it alone.

I enjoy walking through our grove of hardwood trees, listening to the wind rush through their long arms, reaching toward the sky. They are almost barren now, and the wind that whistles through them is crisp. Winter is settling in, and even though I know the days ahead will be cold and dark, I also know that spring isn’t that far away.

In the wind I can hear the promise of God. In the crunch of the leaves underneath my feet. In the sting of the air across my face. I am alive. There are things that need to be tended to. Broken things. There are things that need to be done. Responsibilities. But I also have a responsibility to my own heart, and in these moments I am reminded that I was made for more than what I often settle for.

I will allow my soul to awaken, and I will acknowledge that paradise is calling to me. I will listen, but I won’t seek to control it. I will not fill my life with things or lose myself in the pursuit of temporary pleasures. I will pursue my creator instead, because that is the road I was meant to follow. Paradise will be restored, and learning to walk with God is the way I will embrace it. And I will seek to live life to the fullest, because that is what has been promised unto me. And I will seek to love with a fierce determination that will not only fill my own soul but awaken others.

So now awake, my soul.

Be well –