“I live with these human eyes, and with these human eyes of mine I label.
I label one thing as good and one thing as bad.
I label moments as blessing or burden.
And I forget that all this labeling, it is not my right, not my place, not mine to do.
To declare what is a gift in my life and what is a curse is to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to sit in the garden full of abundance and beauty and choose the forbidden. The knowledge of good and evil, that was never intended for me.
Could I, like Jja Ja Maria just quit my labeling and say, “Whatever God wants. Whatever HE wants!”
Suffering, pain, loss, shame – all these things I have blamed on a broken world, Satan even.
But can’t a broken world and even Satan only give what God allows?
Suffering, pain, loss and shame are only these things because I label them as such.
Because I, a sinner, choose to eat from the tree, choose to turn away from nail-scarred hands and ignore the grace and miss the gift.
He is beautiful and everything He creates is beautiful and if I choose to label it suffering I am choosing to miss the beauty that is freely offered me.”
– Katie Davis
1. If you don’t know who Katie Davis is, educate yourself: katiedavis.amazima.org
2. Any time I need a kick, encouragement or both to keep going, I read her stuff.
3. Oh the things Jesus can do with a life yielded to Him.
4. Perhaps one of the greatest queries of the Christian faith: why does a good God allow suffering?
5. Too general a question for the uniquely complex lives we lead if you ask me.
6. I Am…Beloved was a result of my search for clarity.
7. My answer to many questions is still: I don’t know.
8. There are days when I am at peace with the not knowing and the not understanding. There are days it bugs the heck out of me.
9. But I’ve stopped trying to fit pain and suffering into a neat, logical box. Everyone seems to have their own little theoretical boxes that everyone else tries to poke holes into. Pain sucks. I think that’s something we can all agree on.
10. This walk is a journey. One day at a time on the Road to Emmaus. It’s drawn me back to see a bigger picture. Changed my perspective for sure.
11. I may not know why…but I know in ALL THINGS He’s working for good. Not good as you or I define it…as you or I think it should be. Good as He knows it to be.
12. I can be confident in my knowledge only because I’ve watched Him do it. Not because I read or heard it somewhere and instantly believed it.
13. So I don’t expect everyone to so easily understand and accept what’s taken me multiple personal encounters and experiences to see. Only He can reveal His mind and heart…His intentions to man. The best I can do is point to Him.
14. My one constant remains: He is Emmanuel.
Mary Kamau 