Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, where Hamlet tells Horatio, “there’s a divinity that shapes our ends/ Rough hew them how he will”. Hamlet tells him that there was conflict in his mind that was so intense that he couldn’t sleep and made him feel as if he was a prisoner. He says that excitement and spontaneity are often good but can sometimes border upon recklessness, even when we have to suddenly change a failing plan. He says that it is comforting to know that there is a being, a deity, a God watching over us and pointing us in the right direction even when we mess everything up.
We exist in time for a reason. Let us think about what that reason is. Those in the world and of the world consider it a time to take in all they can for as long as they can. To find success and the wealth that goes along with conquering the world in their perception of reality, and to control the world around them as much as they can. But consider also we are made up mostly of water and water is purified over time through the rock and sand of the earth that filters out impurities. Likewise, our earthly journey is a time of purification as well.
Jumping over to the bible, Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4
Jesus is the living water and think how great and peaceful life would be if only people would do the right things always and know pure fellowship that is only possible with pure hearts.
We are called to change our errant ways and to embrace righteousness. That is where our hearts are called to, in the process of purification. Our brief travel on planet earth is where the grit will rout out evil for good, the wheat will be separated from the chaff.
It is where we are able to separate the good or valuable from that which is inferior. For what is leftover and is of no use to us. It allows us to move on to still waters where the soul is restored in those who choose to believe and seek that place promised in God’s word.
So, you can count on that road less traveled to be devoid of the clutter and clamor so common in the hustle and bustle world of a confused city life, which we seem to gravitate to. But consider that when you vacation, when you go out into nature, there is no evidence of man’s crude and godless creations. It is there where you find a natural beauty that touches the soul and warms your heart. It is, after all, God’s country. There you can commune with a peace that only faith in the unseen is, and that which can only be sensed in the privacy of your heart.
Conversely man’s natural inclination is carnal and hedonistic. It is the lust of the flesh he is inclined to. Conquest is his goal. History tells us that Alexander the Great conquered the world by age 33 and died or was murdered; Christ on the other hand conquered sin and death by the age of 33 and was sacrificed for our sake.
So, what is your goal in this journey of purification? Do you want to be great in this world for a season, or are you seeking the prize of eternal life promised in the word of God? It is also in God’s word that God’s promises are unbreakable. That means that our faith can be unshakable (to use a phrase from Max Lucado). We can be comforted by the truth of that word. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father except by me.” “And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. Jesus also said to his disciples in Mark 6:31, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)
Does that sound like how you feel when you need to get out of the big city, and you act on that urge to get away from it all? When we seek solitude for grounding ourselves, we naturally come down from our high horse and find humility; that humility denied us on that road commonly referred to as “the rat race”. Our instincts tell us when we are going in the wrong direction, on the wrong road but we seem helpless to change course. We have been sucked in and held captive by a desire for what is considered fun and pleasurable.
That, of course, is when our inner self yearns for places away from conflict and confusion. We know it is a time for rest, a time to wait, and a time for prayer and preparation for a greater reward, for a greater mission we are called to. It is only there where you can hear the quiet which is a place of healing for the body and the soul.
Those brief escapes to quiet places provide a waiting time where God does a work in us, a work of preparation. And while the fast-paced person may feel it is a waste of time, it is anything but wasted time. The poet Longfellow wrote, “…let us then be up and doing with the heart for any fate ever pursuing always achieving, learn to labor and to wait.” That, to me, means pursuing the simple life with patience in waiting. It brings to mind Simon & Garfunkel’s song Feelin’ Groovy. “Slow down you move too fast, you gotta make the morn’n last, kick’n down the cobble stones look’n for fun and feel’n groovy.”
That leads me to imagine being in the groove and that groove turns into a rut. That rut is found in big city life. Someone told me long ago the only difference between a rut and a grave is its depth. We all know how hard it is to get out of a rut once we are in it. It is like an addiction where you are compelled to repeat over and over until you are shaken to your core. And your core is where you find humility and your soul. And when you do, you get closer to understanding the value of this journey. You learn that what you have been searching for is that something that is already within you. And it can only be realized when you diligently seek it personally and for you alone. There is where you will find God’s purpose and plan for your life. That is the divinity you are free to choose or deny. Choose wisely.