Isaiah Roman

Living Life

Sometimes it’s hard to determine where prophecy ends and life begins. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called “The Screwtape Letters” in which he describes some of the tactics of the enemy. One of those is the pining for the past, another is the dreaming of a future. These two tricks are designed to keep one looking anywhere but the present.

I’ve written dozens of articles on this premise, but what remains true is the constancy of the battle. Every day, it seems, I am walking a tight rope between what is, and what will be. When Paul said “to die is gain” I know what he meant. When he said “to live is Christ” I also know what he meant. It is a balancing act which he sums up in the words “whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content.”

Patience has never been one of my strongest attributes. One might say that I am impulsive. Less now than when I was younger. The folly of youth is in being consumed by one’s own impulses. The grace of age is in learning – one way or another – that peace comes through control of one’s impulses. Those who do not learn this lesson are doomed to constant failure, because only the strengths of youth keep the young from destruction. The advent of age takes away certain protections against damage.

As I grow older, day by day, I learn this lesson more and more. It is in the now that I learn these things. Each of these lessons comes more than once, but how much more profitable if it only takes one time for me to learn that lesson, and apply it? Some people go their entire lives fighting against these things. They don’t want to learn, they want to master. They want to change the lesson plan to suit their own desire, but then reality comes crashing down.

Therein lies the rub. Reality is this ever-present, all controlling force that has many names. Some call it cosmos, some call it Mother Nature. I call it God. Natural theology has taken a lot of hits over the years, but I still believe the fundamental thought behind it remains true. In the beginning, God created… If God created then surely everything that is contains his measure. Everything that is operates according to his design. The very fact that he created tells us many things about what we need to do.

Each moment the earth moves around the sun it is progressing towards a place, yet each moment it is progressing in the same way, along the same path. The earth is constantly moving within it’s predetermined pattern, yet it moves according to it’s own mass and inertia. One might say that it was given a track to race on, and it chooses the course along that path. Many humans want to change the course of history. They want to make their own path, but reality says that the path is already laid out.

One might infer that I’m talking about determinism, or predestination. In some small sense, I am. Prophecy tells us that this earth is destined for an end. Prophecy tells us the circumstances under which that end will come. Soteriology tells us that our personal destinies will come to an end. We will either spend eternity in Heaven with God, or eternity in Hell, with ourselves and the fallen angels. Some things cannot be changed. These are the things which are predestined. Your place within that eventuality is up to you. That place relies upon what you do about what you know.

We are contained by prophecy, because prophecy is God’s promise. We are contained within reality, because reality is God’s gift to us. We are trapped only by our own minds in how we perceive these two conditions. We cannot look towards tomorrow and forget today. We cannot pine for the past and loose the lessons right now. Yet, we cannot ignore the past, nor forsake our future.

Balance.

That’s the word. Being frustrated and angry about circumstances is not balance. Being confused and bewildered by events is not balance. Being afraid and cowering because of perceived eventualities is not balance. Balance is found in knowing that the future is written, that the past informs and the present still remains, and will remain forever. Balance is found in wisdom, and wisdom is the fear of God.

Every day we struggle for balance. Tight rope walkers have a long pole they carry to keep themselves balanced on the wire. It helps them find center, and to compensate for their own weight. Most of us are looking for that pole. Most of us find what we think is the right pole and only too late do we realize that it’s not.

Each microsecond of each step on the wire a tightrope walker has to make small adjustments to remain in balance. The right shoes are an imperative. Soles too thick and you can feel the wire. Soles too thin and the wire cuts too deep into the foot. Even barefoot wire walkers build up a callous on their feet to the proper weight.

They know these things because they know that their life hangs in the balance. They know these things because they pay careful attention each time they get up on the wire. They know these things because the lessons of tight-rope walking come once. If you don’t learn that lesson, you may well be dead.

This is living life.