The dining room was a mess. Three little girls had decided that this was going to be the location of their fort and they were running around the house excitedly grabbing items to make their little place “homey”.
Two bedsheets ended up over the table and provided the giggling, enthusiastic trio with their “walls” while pillows, blankets, little chairs, books, stuffed toys, and portable lamps made their way into the newly constructed hideaway. “We’re going to live here, mommy!” one of them exclaimed as they arranged all their favorite things around them and settled in to enjoy their new home “away” from home.
Oftentimes, we also build our lives, our “forts” with things and accomplishments we believe will provide the safety and security we need to live our lives. Enthusiastically building with a checklist of must-haves in mind: right job, right house, right car, right spouse…those we believe will provide us with the fulfillment and happiness that will help us live the perfect life. But as flimsy as those bedsheets, once taken away, we realize how fragile our fort really is.
“I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-16 (NIV)
As we continue to experience the onslaught of the pandemic and its collateral damage, it feels at times that the stripping away is never ending. Wave after wave of trials, changes, losses, pivots, heartaches, disappointments, seemingly unanswered cries of “enough” have lain us bare, down to the bone, naked—the manmade shelters of success and stability no longer providing the same shade and security.
In the midst of it all, simple joys, simple meals, quiet times in His presence have become the essential, the deep breath in our prayers, the inner push another day calls for, the assurance that the eternal is what matters.
Let His constant, sweet, reassuring presence and daily manna of His promises rain gently upon us—reviving us to face yet another day, whispering softly that He is there and is all we need.
Dear Lord,
As we strip down to what has truly become our real life essentials, continue to remind us that when our eyes rest on You and not on the crumbling walls of the flimsy forts around us, we will find that the only true essential is You—our refuge, our mighty fortress and the God who is trustworthy.
