A Secret

McLaren wrote on p.180 of "A Generous Orthodoxy":

I feel that I am carrying around this hilarious secret: that I actually own all things, that all things are mine - because I am Christ's, and Christ is God's, and God allows me to have things in the way that matters most. Not by having them in my legal possession, but by having them in my spiritual possession by gratefully seeing them, gratefully knowing and cherishing them (1 Cor. 3:21-23). Those weren't legally "my" goldfinches or "my" sycamore trees or "my" rocky-bottomed streams in the park that day, but did anyone on earth possess them as fully as me that day?

Sometimes I have felt like that. But sometimes I feel like the world has a secret it is keeping from me. And it's laughing at me. And I'm told that this isn't what a "christian" ought to think. So I begin to think maybe I'm not a christian. Or that I'm a bad one. Or I get upset and defensive. And the sad thing is... then I've lost all that I own, and I own nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
And, it's like hell, right?

So I take back those thoughts. I take them captive to the obedience of Christ. Because I am carrying around this hilarious secret and all things are mine - in a way. And the joy of the journey is seeing others discover the secret too. It's nice to share it, but it's even better to see them discover it themselves. Sometimes maybe creating an atmosphere for discovery to take place; sometimes giving clues and hints. But sometimes just getting out of the way of the Spirit.

I feel bad for my friend Ken today. His mother is about to die. I want him to know the secret of death, or should I say the truth of death. The shear beauty of entering into Your presence; the garden; of being wholly Yours in time and space and being. Open his eyes, Lord. Remove the veil. Whisper in his ear. Reveal.