For some reason that I can’t quite explain, 4-year-old Rowyn has decided that Heaven = Outer Space. There is no hesitation in his mind. When he talks about going to Outer Space, it’s to drop in on God and say, “Hello.” Preferably in a rocket. That, he says, is where he will go when he dies to live again forever.
Who am I, mere mortal that I am, to try to straighten it all out for him? LOL. The book of Daniel tells us about angels on a physical journey from Heaven to Earth, waylaid by demons so that they arrived seemingly “late” to answer the prayers of the faithful. For all I know, those demons were hiding behind an asteroid orbiting Jupiter. *shrugs*
 |
| The Milky Way over the West Virginia hills |
But it came up in my little brain in response to some wonderful conversations and books I was reading yesterday. The conversations joked about how the particular group involved is made of black sheep, it seems. Or at least, would be dubbed so by a prominent few. We like reality in our fiction. We believe that redemption is greatest when the sin was staggering–after all, who will love the forgiver more, he who is forgiven much or little? We believe in thinking, in living our life in this world even if we’re not of it, in refusing the neatly bottled answers that are often tossed around in Christian circles.
And yes, that leads some of us to rant and rail on occasion. Why, we ask, do our brothers and sisters in the Church judge us for following Him into the wilderness? Isn’t that where He went? Where He ordered us to go??
Then, in something I was reading by my good friend and WhiteFire author Christine Lindsay, she quotes C. S. Lewis, and it resonated:
“It
would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too
weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex
and ambition when infinite Joy is offered us, like an ignorant child
who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot
imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are
far too easily pleased.”
You know what that hammered home to me? That we’re so very small. Sometimes, that makes us petty. Sometimes, that makes us close ourselves into a cozy little box. Sometimes it makes us judge–and I’m not talking just about the ones in the box judging those outside, I’m talking about the opposite too. We all want to be accepted for who we are–and when someone else is different, we feel that as judgment. Don’t we?
But what Lewis pinpointed so beautifully there is that God is bigger than that. God is a God of the biggest dreams, the grandest ideas. He’s a thinking man’s God and an infantile-minded man’s God. The God of the broken and of the fixer. He’s a God who says, “You want the world? Foolish mortal–I’m offering you heaven.”
 |
| The Dirty Devil River photo by Seth G. Cowdery |
Or as Rowyn would say, Outer Space. 😉 And that’s true too, isn’t it? He’s the God of the universe, of the infinite.
But how often do we forget that, as Pascal expounded on in a Pensee, the infinite goes both directions? The infinitely great, and the infinitely small. So often, we pick one direction and focus on that, because that’s where our interests lie.
I love–absolutely love–that I serve a God with no limits. A God who can touch hearts through the sweetest stories as well as through the grittiest. A God who doesn’t say we must change before we can enter His house, but who invites us in as we are and says, “I’ve been waiting for you. I have a job for you to do, and those quirks of yours will make you a perfect fit.”
I don’t know about you, but I serve one amazing, all-out, no-holds-barred God. He meets me in the grime, and He promises me the galaxies. He tells me that there’s nothing I can dream that’s too big…but that sometimes He wants to give me something even bigger than the corporeal, than the physical. He’s a God who says, “Go ahead. Reason. Ask questions. Explore the what-ifs. I’ll be there too.”
So for today, in all gratefulness, I say, “My God, who art in Outer Space, I set your name aside as holy. Establish your kingdom, and do your will, O Lord. Not just up in the stars…but right down here in the muck.”
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
And so you are, Madam President. ("Hail to the chief, she's the chief and she needs hailing. Hail to the chief, now everybody hail like crazy…" ~My remembrance of some movie's take on "Hail to the Chief" LOL. Since you demand song.) 😉
Excellently stated, Roseanna! I've been legalistic. I've been judging. I've been religious. All so wearisome. Now I've gotten to the place where I just want to be love.
Aww, thanks. I haven't read all the titles in the series, to be sure–and as with any series, I've liked some more than others. But I always love being counted as one of the favorites of a series. =)
LOL. I'll keep that in mind in case someone ever demands such a thing of me. 😉
Oh, and I almost forgot something. Last night, I was in the church library waiting for my family to be ready to leave and I picked up one of the Love Finds You books that I had been reading (whenever I had time to read some of it at church). As I was reading the last chapters, I was reminded of why I don't usually read LFY books. The book was alright; there was certainly nothing "wrong" with the book but it wasn't amazing. It was a just a simple, easy to follow, love story book. That reminded me how much I loved Annapolis because it wasn't like that. Not at all. The writing style in the LFY book was fine, but yours was clear, descriptive, beautiful, and refreshing. Most LFY books are nice, simple, easy to read and follow love stories that are a pleasant, quick read. I have read over fifteen LFY books and with the exception of only one other LFY book (Bodie Thoene's Love Finds You in Lahiana, Hawaii), yours is the only amazing, excellent, and unique LFY book I have read. Anyway, all that to say, keep up the excellent work! God has blessed you with a lot of talent.
This is such a thoughtful post. I love this post. In addition to being an amazingly, wonderful, talented historical fiction writer, you have awesome, thoughtful posts on Thursdays. I think you could turn some of them into devotionals and sell it as a short devotional book. I know I would certianly buy it. 😀