Because you once traversed
Trees line the road to Domremy, France, the village where Joan of Arc lived.
I traveled that road once and now it belongs to me. April, 2007.
“These trees are yours because you once looked at them.
These streets are yours because you once traversed them…
You once spoke to Him, and then God became yours.
He sits with us in darkness now…” ― Kamand Kojouri
We talked here recently about how, in a sense, experiences in our past belong to us for always. What happens does not un-happen simply because of loss and change. Albert Einstein is widely quoted as saying “the dividing line between past, present, and future is an illusion.” Whether or not the quote is an accurate repetition of his words, his work seems to point to that conclusion.
This idea becomes sharply relevant to those of us who have endured great deprivation. It’s one reason why people blessed with long years of life will often seem, to younger generations, to live mostly in the past. When the entire landscape of one’s life is swept away as if in a natural disaster, the foundation established in earlier years becomes terra firma to unsteady feet and a disoriented mind.
Likewise, as Kojouri points out, the foundation of faith remains with us even when all contact with God seems to go silent. Many of us have had the startling experience of emerging from a period of long, lonely darkness and finding God still there, bringing the absolute conviction that we were never alone even when we felt ourselves most deserted.
Truly God sits with us in the darkness, knowing that dazzling benevolent light will eventually return to bless our silent waiting with reassurance and rebirth. I believe this because it has happened before in my life. I trust it will happen again, for me and for whomever sits in the shadows alongside me. Together we trust, and hope, and wait.
This post was first published seven years ago today. As I post it again, so soon after the loss of my brother last month, and of my sister last year, it seems especially relevant to my personal situation right now.
This post is not designed for viewing on cell phones; the photo may be distorted unless the actual blog link is clicked. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
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- Tagged: bereavement, Bible, darkness, faith, foundations, God, grief, illusion, Jesus, life, loss, memory, past, persistence, relativity, Roads, steadfast hope, time, trees, waiting
Defeat Despair 
Julia, very true words! I loved your last sentence; together we trust, and hope, and wait. We can’t do much better than that.
Proverbs tells us to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. When we do, Paul’s observation of present ‘suffering’ in Romans 8:28 provides hope. And as you say, His ‘dazzling benevolence’ will eventually bless us.
Blessings to you and Matt!
Thank you, Chris. The nice thing about growing older is that waiting becomes easier– at least it has for me. That’s a paradox, isn’t it? Since we have less and less time on this earth to spend waiting. But also less and less stamina and energy 😀 and with the consolations found in simple things, such as a good book and a cup of tea!
Amen, sister! 😊