The World In Between

Holy Spirit,

You've set heavy loads on our backs. Loads that make the burdens of this life feel light - those burdens which before seemed heavy to us. We are soaked through like wood with a dark stain which permeates our everything. We are unchangeably changed, and we cannot return. 

Though I miss the family I knew before, I see you more clearly in them now. I see heaven and eternity in them in a way I never did before. We are more whole and more broken than we were before. The wells of our conscience have plunged deeper toward the great Aquifer, and the river of life that flows out of sight beneath our feet. 

Though we bear the wounds of the devil's wolves, we are now elevated above their lair. We won't stumble into their den because you have scooped us all onto your broad shoulders. You walk high above the wolves, and they scatter at the sound of your footfall. 

Your stride sweeps us through cool meadows, over raging rivers, and up pine-laden hills, heavy with the scent of morning. We are held fast by your great gentle hands as you wade through the ocean; as you sing with the morning stars. You have mercifully kept us, cradled us, and brought us into a country we'd never known before - a country deeper and wider than we'd seen. We had prayed and hoped to be here with you...

We wanted the depth of your thundering voice to surge through us and rattle our bones. Now it has. You are unsearchable, unknowable, and beyond our understanding. We plummeted through fire and sharp rocks to get there, but you've brought us into your country - wise and old, wild and free. 

We've suffered great loss, and still suffer in this life, but you've made us honorary members of your kingdom while we're still on earth. With one foot in eternity, we walk this familiar road. And though our paths on earth have not changed, they've been swallowed up by eternity, and they look more hollow to us. More transparent. They are a curtain which we can't pull back yet - each street and tree and house is a veil. Everything around us is different, and we are changed as well. 

You've brought redemption and mercy to our doorsteps in the midst of our mourning, and your song of freedom to the rim of our ears. The sights and smells of your great banquet fill our world-weary eyes, giving us joy for tomorrow. You've given us a taste of your glory in the center of our hurricane, a peaceful table to recline at while the world trembles and convulses with labor pains. 

We have been broken and freed from desire for this world, fitted with garlands of precious jewels, measured for our priestly robes, bathed in the ruby-red blood of your Son...

...and asked only to receive. 

Receive Christ, receive mercy, receive strength, receive boldness, receive joy. And in the midst of this gray and foggy world, to shine like a bonfire at night, like precious gold under a white hot sun, and to flavor this world with the unheard-of delicacies of your table.