Back in college, we had this Discipleship Group and sometimes we found the materials to be a little bit cheesy. We’d be reading some illustration and then some not-so-subtle transition would tie it back into the spiritual or Biblical principle at hand, something as smooth and artful as “And so it is with God.” It became kind of a little inside joke in our group and we would have fun suddenly whipping the conversation back to God with that phrase.
When I got married, a friend from that group gave me a frame inscripted with “And so it is with God.” It now hangs above our bed with a picture of Aubrey and I from our wedding reception. It features us beaming at each other during our first dance as husband and wife, to the song “You’re Beautiful” by Phil Wickham.
Since becoming a parent, I’ve been learning so much about God as a good parent. In the last several months, though, I’ve been sensing Him asking me to relate to Him in a new way. I imagine Him turning my face toward Him, asking me to offer my whole heart in a vulnerable, exposed way, and to relax into His arms. It feels like such a risk — this kind of intimacy — and I’ve come to realize it’s easier to dismiss and stuff longing than to sit in it.
But He wants all of me. Face turned up to Him, eyes locked on His, relaxing to His touch, hanging on His every word, and holding back no part of me. It’s not comfortable to put yourself at the mercy of someone else, it’s better than comfort. It’s loving and being loved, giving and receiving, being known and loved — it’s breathtaking and terrifying and how we were created to live.
Though imperfect, that picture of us gazing at each other with so much love and joy that we belong to each other, dancing together to a melody which sings of God’s glory, is an image in which I am beginning to delight in all over again.
And so it is with God. Amen.
hope for the sojourn 