1 Corinthians 13:8-13 February 1, 2004

Rev. David Inglis

"A Brush with Life"

One cold winter day, a woman suddenly slipped and fell on the icy driveway. Her head hit the pavement–crack! Everything went dark, and her body temperature began to drop. When she woke up, she felt herself moving rapidly through a long tunnel towards the most beautiful, peaceful, warm light she had ever known. At the end of the tunnel, she found herself surrounded with complete, unconditional love. She knew she was in the presence of God. But something in her felt restless and unresolved. She decided to ask God about something that had really bothered her all of her life. "If you created the world, why is there so much suffering there? If people are created in your image, why do they treat each other so badly?"

God told her that each person who enters another person’s life can have a unique lesson to teach them. It is only through these lessons that people gain wisdom and can learn about love, faith, courage, and hope.

God explained, "When someone lies to you, it teaches you to look for the truth beneath the masks that people show you. When you can look with compassion at their fears and insecurities that give rise to their deceptions, then you can find the simple vulnerable beauty that they hold inside them. If you remove your own masks to let people know who you really are, then you will create a place where you both can share the simple unadorned beauty of your own true selves. To find that holy ground, you must use the eyes of love to see through the masks and deceptions.

"When someone steals from you, it teaches you that nothing in the world is forever. It reminds you to appreciate what you have while you have it, without clinging to it. You never know when you might lose it, and you don’t know what might replace it. When you learn to savor what you have and who you are in each moment, the full richness of life flows into you and fills you with gratitude. You realize that each present moment is all you ever have, and all you ever need, because when you are fully awake to the present, time becomes infused with eternity.

"When someone hurts you, it teaches you how to forgive. No one is immune from injury, and no one is so perfect that they will not hurt others. People hurt each other out of their own blindness. The way to overcome blindness is not to demand an eye for an eye, but to open your eyes to the fears and pain that blind them, bless them with a prayer, let my boundless love heal your wound, and move on in the awareness of how fragile humans are, yet how wondrously able to transcend their pain.

"When someone breaks your heart, it reminds you that love cannot be coerced or controlled. Loving someone does not guarantee that the person will love you in return. This can teach you that the source of the love you truly seek is not another mortal’s love, but the love of the One who created you and loves you for eternity. And no matter how completely your love is rejected, no one can destroy your capacity for love, for that is my image that was planted in you before your birth and that will shine like the sun when your earth time is over."

When she heard all the lessons that could be learned from people’s shortcomings, the woman wondered if there were any lessons to be learned from people’s good deeds. God smiled and replied, "Every deed of selfless service, every gift of generosity, every act of courageous honesty, every creation of beauty, shines a light into the world–a light that warms and activates the spirits of others. The darkness in the world, with all its destructiveness and terror, is nothing more than the cold, stark absence of light. And there is no darkness so deep that cannot be dispelled by light. People’s capacity to shine their light into the darkness, especially darkness that is deep and fearful, is the noblest power I have given them. How seldom they believe in their capacity to do this! I have given humans the power to determine how much darkness and how much light there is in the world, but so many people adapt to the darkness rather than dispel it. The greatest gift a person can give themselves and the world is to overcome the darkness in themselves so that they can shine their light of love, truth and hope into the world.

The woman was shining with understanding. She said, "I can see now that people wouldn’t learn what it means to love unless they released their control and became vulnerable to rejection. They wouldn’t really learn how to forgive unless they struggled with wounds that really hurt. They wouldn’t learn how to live in the fullness of the present unless they accepted how fleeting time is, and that it carries away all they cling to. They wouldn’t learn what’s inside people unless they learned to see through their masks and deceptions with the eyes of compassion. They couldn’t learn how to shine their light unless they also came to terms with the power of darkness, even as it looks inside themselves. I guess everything on earth points beyond itself, doesn’t it?"

God smiled again. "Yes, no matter how painful or fearful or dark it seems, everything on earth can help open a person to the pure light and love that are available to them in eternity."

"I think I understand now," said the woman. "How I wish I had understood all of this when I was still in the world! Can I go back and have more time living in the world with this understanding? It would be so much easier!"

God said, "If you lived in the world with the clarity of sight you have now, it wouldn’t really help you. You would know that darkness is not real, that pain is fleeting and that fears are unfounded, and so you wouldn’t grow deeper and stronger by struggling to transcend them. If you went back, you’d have to forget all that you have already learned in your brief moment of eternity, and then learn it with your whole being as you struggled with the limitations of mortality. Learning to overcome those limitations is how your soul becomes strong and radiant."

"I would have to forget everything I’ve just learned, and deal with life’s struggles with nothing to help me?"

"You may have what I have given every mortal–the capacity for faith, hope and love, and little daily reminders that life is much bigger and deeper and closer to eternity than your fears tell you. If you approach life with faith, hope and love, you can catch glimpses of eternity every day."

"I want to try again to see that," said the woman. "Even though it’s hard, I want to discover for myself how everything on earth can point here, and how to shine my light into the darkness. Even though it’s risky, I want to be prepared to enter eternity stretched and grown and deepened, so I can have as much capacity for heaven’s love and light as I can."

"You have spoken wisely, my child," said the living presence of light.

The light quickly faded, and everything grew dark and silent and cold–so cold–shivering, shivering, shivering cold.

"Look! She’s moving!" a voice penetrated the thick darkness. "She’s shivering. Quick! Another coat!" And then came the sound of a siren, louder, louder, splitting her head. Oh, her throbbing head. Movements–quick, jerky movements. Ow, ow! Her body hurt so much, and it felt so heavy. "Where am I?" her voice finally squeaked out.

"You’re riding in an ambulance. We thought we’d lost you. But you’re alive. Thank God you’re alive!"

"Thank God I’m alive. Thank God I’m alive," she repeated over and over–and many times again, long after she had recovered from her nasty fall on the ice. "Why do I keep saying that?" she wondered: "Thank God I’m alive. Funny–it never felt so good to be so thankful."

The scripture lesson is read following the story.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13