Revelation

“It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
‘Til it was a battle cry” – Lyrics from The Call by Regina Spektor

I have been thinking about revelation, no not the book of the bible, in general. The idea that as we walk through our lives things become clearer as we grow. At different points in our lives different things start to reveal themselves to us.

This starts at the very beginning of life. It continues through childhood, memories start to form, along with words, through speech and reading. When we acquire these skills a whole world opens up, a world of communication. We no longer have to point or grunt out what we want, but we have words.

But the revelation doesn’t end there, it continues on, at first its small things like how to put a straw in a juice box (to this day i struggle with Capri-sun) or how to pull the chair over to the cabinet to get something that you have been eyeing for months maybe even years.

We are given more freedom to explore the world around us, we venture out into the front yard and back yard. We imagine these places to be other worlds, pirate ships, baseball fields, jungles. The world opens up to us, as if to show us everything it has to offer.

We grow up and things are revealed, sometimes if not most times in part. Not only do the things around us become clearer, louder, more defined, but we ourselves do too. Through the way we experience the world we learn who we are, who God created us to be. We learn our gifts, and our short comings. However, the most wonderful part of this particular revelation is that it happens in the presence of those we love. The ones we love get to see who we become, often times before we do. Joy, and sometimes pain, are found in these revelations.

Our pride sometimes leads us to feel that we know all we need to. What has been reveal to us is sufficient. We don’t need to know more about the world, or ourselves.  We deal with these things like they are static, like they don’t change, but they do. The world changes, always beckoning us to discover what it has to reveal to us. We change based on the experiences that we have, but often are blind to how these experiences effect us.

If I come away with nothing else, which is not likely, I hope to come away with a better sense of self, and of creation. I would like what used to be a whisper to turn into a battle cry. A battle cry of Love for others, of mercy, and grace, for all of God’s creation.

My prayer is that when I return from this place of wonder and revelation, that people would find me as Robert Frost writes: “They would not find me changed from him they knew only more sure of all I thought was true.” That my life itself would be a cry of the power and amazing love and wonder that is the Gospel.

Posted in: Personal, Revelation