Becoming More

I was startled by this view of my neighborhood park. I have never passed by or walked through when it was empty. Not in the early morning hours as the sun comes up. Not in the twilight hours when the sun is setting. And never, ever have I seen it so empty in between on a bright sunny day. It seemed an alien landscape. It cast me into a moment of confusion.

But this strange sight also led me to realize that a park is still a park, even when it is empty. Even without children playing and families picnicking and kites flying, this is still a park. The fundamental nature of the land has not changed. It’s purpose has not changed. It is what it is because that is what it was created to be.

Sometimes our lives seem empty. Sometimes our lives look differently than they have in the past, and from how we always believed they would look. Sometimes the energy and activity are absent. Sometimes the sounds of joy are found silent. Sometimes we can forget who we are.

But, like the park, we are still who we are. The difficult circumstances that come and go don’t alter who we are and what we are created to be. We read in Thessalonians, ”Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

We are God’s children now, regardless of how things look or how we feel. We are God’s children now, regardless of what other may think or say. And, even in the empty times and the silent times, we are becoming more.

Peace.