It can feel like being blindfolded by a friend, by someone you trust, and all around you, eyes open or closed, it is dark. All you remember is that you just came from somewhere else. You were getting by, or so you thought. But here you are, seized unexpectedly, and now you're walking and stumbling in a different direction, guided by their lead. You're disoriented, you're unsure of the grand picture here, but you hear, muffled through the blindfold also covering your ears, the near-giddy excitement in the voice of your friend at the happy spectacle of it all. You recognize those sounds. They are home to you. And in that moment, you are instantly calmed.
It is the feeling that you have as you're in that darkness, after you were taken and before you are freed, waiting for the time when finally, finally, the blindfold will be uncovered and you can open your eyes and truly see. You know that much will be clear when there is light. But for now, you're confused and expectant and maybe even a little perturbed for a time; most definitely a little uneasy and incredibly vulnerable and exposed.
In the midst of your fears you are reminded that you were not harshly abducted; you are being lovingly guided by a friend that you happily chose. You are not where you once were, but where you are going promises only to be richer. And to know these things is to know enough that will sustain you. To feed on these truths will provide the nourishment you need. The hands that steadily steer your shoulders are good, able, and equipped for the task.
It's the middle time. It's a strange time. It can be a sad time, a complete array of varying emotional responses. In hindsight it may end up being one of the fullest times of your life. It is here you are recklessly abandoned to trust with a faith and hope and ferocity that you didn't realize was in your depths of being. There is refreshingly no room for pretense. You are rugged. You are stripped down. Your life that you once protected is simply not your own.
So until that blindfold comes off - whatever that might mean and whenever that might be - you decide that the best and only thing to do is to allow yourself to take the time to lift your heels out of the mud. To no longer resist your path with the things you deem better or best. To develop new legs for walking in this darkness so you can effectively navigate. To learn to be comfortable here, to rest a while, until you are no longer here, but there.
And once you do those things, you begin to find and experience a deep and lasting joy, because you know that you're loved and accepted, even in this uncertain place. You begin to train your ears to listen for that sweet and comforting Voice when it calls to you. You begin to understand more deeply Who it is that is calling. You gradually become ever-ready, ever-hopeful, ever-vigilant, and ever-humbled. You enter in to your own beautiful transition, walking with your gentle Guide.
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21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)
The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
(Psalm 37:23-24)
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