Left Untried

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

― G.K. Chesterton

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Dear Kate,

If walking Sumi up the hill every morning is one of the deepest joys of my life, then I am getting a special edition of it this time of year.

Is this really summer...or fall...or maybe even winter?  Such is this pilgrim's inquisitive progress upward to receive a revelation that speaks about more than the Vancouver climate.  It takes me about half an hour to ask the three-part question and a lifetime to answer it.

The progress is about an openness to transcendence, not only my reaching for it, but first its openness to me.

Without seeing the above and beyond, we are left with a set of finite observations and limited possibilities, stuffs documented and analyzed in pornographic details by, say, weather forecast apps, many, too many of them we all have, as if the control at our fingertip can advert prophesies, stop the rains and hurricanes of life.  (Or, another example, how the more dictionary apps we have might suggest a better chance of us speaking better.  I am sure you know what I mean. 😝)

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in."  This time of year my kids don't wake up until noon.  And if they are to walk the dog at all they would see it as a chore, bad luck for being picked for the task (even if this dad has pretty much given up on bestowing on them this particular call and blessing).  "Aim at earth and you get neither."

I've heard that before, people telling me my sentences are long and thoughts "good" but esoteric, useless for practical purpose in the "real" world.  These people, ironically, are mostly professionals who have taken in a mountain of truly mystifying text to climb to the place they are now at (remember your university text books?), not only not illiterate, but some very smart to navigate in the absurdity of arcane notations permeating their daily "reality."  Yet they claimed I was making things difficult, for them.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

An easy yoke.  A paradox that is, from the face of many Christians I know, altogether impractical.

Yours, Alex