From Dirges to Anthems - Identity

Greetings Dear Reader,

And if you ever hear me calling out

And if you've been by paupers crowned

Between the worlds of men and make-believe I can be found – Dan Fogelberg

I often ponder how crazy the things I believe seem to others.  It is true that Christ followers can come out paranoid and on some standardized psychological tests.  I also know that my approach to life can border on madness as well.  There is a cost to loving others.  There is a cost to being kind and wanting the best.  At times I wish to shelve the whole idea but that is always motivated by selfishness or pride.

I need to remember that even though most of my accomplishments are on the invisible spiritual front none of them are truly mine.  Most of what I do that is good matters on the ethereal rather than material plane.  Even my novels are fiction.  It is in that veiled place between the worlds of men and of make-believe that I also find so much truth. 

Any accolades I earn here are temporal and elusive. The good I do that is unseen has the potential to last eternally.  This is not because of me but due to the essence of Christ in that which is kind and good.  Paupers may crown me for things but they can take it away just as quickly.  When I call out for notice I am forgetting where the true source of both the good I do and the reward for that good lie. 

When I am doing well I need to seek only one thing; gratitude that Christ sees fit to use me to work his will in the world.  So if you need to understand why I make some of the choices I make or why I take on hope as a standard, consider that where I live, between the worlds of men and make-believe that is all that can sustain me.

It is in that thin slice of truth between our fallen world and the fantasies we use to sustain us that we find Christ and the ability to impact things for his kingdom and the redemption he offers.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn                              

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."