Conversations with God

Hello God, it’s me, Mara:

You know, Lord, while living through this special Memorial season this week, it is a season that we hold dear to our hearts, pondering on the precious memories of those who have departed. If our heart aches, it is more for us than for them. With each heartache, each memory, we may tell ourselves with determination, that this is the last, that here is the logical point for the past to grow quiet. But – no known logic works on the worst of facts, when we think about the death of someone we have loved.

But for right now, Lord, we are living in the ‘meantime’ rather than living in the ‘sometimes’. We probably all feel that life is most enjoyable when lived, but some people don’t really know how to live it. They pass through life as if they are only ‘killing time’, but meanwhile, it is ‘time’ that is killing them. Someone wrote: “Dead is dead, people, and standing around looking at ‘dead’ has never been known to help any one of us.”

Somehow the past and present are able to live in the same instant and together, they pass into the future. It is not looking at an abandoned dwelling now occupied only by time and the wind … or like a vacant remnant with a walked-away look.

No, the destined end of man was not meant for happiness, nor for health, but for holiness – and holiness means unsullied (clean and pure) walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind – every detail of our lives under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not what God gives us, but it is what manifests what God has given to each one of us. Hebrews 12:14 encourages us “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, …” Lord, help us to live unsullied lives as unto you.

Love, Mara