Last night we sat in our living room with the first two couple friends Doug and I ever made in Georgia, laughing, eating, sharing life. Like everyone else, none of our families have been exempt from moments of tragedy, tension, seeming defeat and bottom feeder experiences that can only be summarized as living in hell. In the laughter last night, the sharing, I felt Father so clearly dancing over and through our moment. "I waste nothing," He whispered.
If it is true that the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, then Jesus's incarnation, death, burial and resurrection was always Plan A in the heart of Abba, not a shot from the hip, clean up the mess Adam made Plan B.
This is a crucial understanding to life with God and life with people. For in His choosing, it means Father looked out over creation fully aware of all the messes and heinous hurtful, harmful, painful choices and actions we would rend upon the earth and upon each other and He still decided creating us was worth it.
You. Me. The very good of all things created, we are worth it. And in our worth, He anchors us to Himself in His love with one goal in mind: redemption. To bring us back to Himself. To restore us fully to the dance of relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to restore harmony once again to all relationships.
I saw redemption in the air last night. That on the other side of hurt and wrong, being judged and passed over, forgotten or misunderstood...on the other side of silence and questioning and feelings of aloneness. All the dark parts of being human and living in relationships, just through the intense parts of the crosses we bear, hangs redemption. And it is for that Jesus endured and why we endure.
Redemption is the joy that is set before us. It is the return of relationship to its rightful place. The place of alignment where you belong, where I belong. Redemption is the place where the weaver weaves and the singers sing and Abba dances.
Wait for it, my friends. Participate with Him, even when doing so feels a little like slogging through wet mud. Redemption is the summing up of all things. Like a conductor striking his baton and summoning the instruments to play middle C, the groaning of the earth is waiting for that moment, that fullness of time when the Master Weaver weaves redemption through your situation. Rest assured, all around He is at work redeeming the world to Himself.
