Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

Invisible

            Pre-dawn dark, the darkest dark. The morning was crisp and the frosty grass glittered in the porch light's pool of light. Stars glittered overheard as I walked to the garage lugging my laptop and overloaded book bag, my purse, thermos, and lunch, everything I needed for the day. I was about halfway between the house and the garage when suddenly, from the pitch black backyard, I heard a loud whuff and stamp, a deer's alarm call. It worked. I was alarmed.

            From the sound of it, the animal was either very close or very large, or both. To say that I quickened my pace would be an understatement. Now, I know the old saying--they're more afraid of you than you are of them--but at that moment, I doubted it. I reached the garage in record time.

            If it had been light enough for me to have seen the deer before I heard it, I wouldn't have been so shaken. I've seen and heard deer alarm posture and calls before, and while they're sudden and forceful, they've been awe-inspiring, not frightening because I've known the animal was there and have been able to keep my distance. Seeing what was there beforehand, made all the difference.

            In our nation right now there's a lot that's outside our circle of light, so many things we can't see or know or predict about the future. Growing up, I saw a nation divided by race wars, by the war between the young and "the establishment," and by the long, drawn-out war in Viet Nam. I'm seeing that same level of civil unrest today when I no longer have a child's innocence to carry me through.

             But if I can manage to keep it in the forefront of my mind, what I have now is better and more durable than innocence. It's faith. Faith in, as one recent song puts it, "The One who holds the stars."*

            The prophet Daniel wrote:

[God] reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness though he is surrounded by light (Daniel 2:22).

            Though current events alarm us with their suddenness and force, and we can't always keep a safe distance from them, none of the things happening in our nation today come as a surprise to God. But how are we as mere mortals to cope with what we can't see?

[Moses] kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27).

            Keeping our eyes on the invisible is another way of saying, have faith. Having faith is the only way we'll be able to keep going in our troubled world. Practically speaking, what does this mean? What does the Lord require of us?

[T]he Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

            Even more practically speaking, let's hear Peter, one of the most practical, down-to-earth speakers in the Bible on the subject.

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone (I Peter 1:5b-7).

            So, moral excellence, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love--is that all? What a tall order! What do these attributes look like in our modern world of relationships with family, friends, and coworkers? What do they look like on social media? Or in our responses to rude drivers, or even in the bumper stickers plastered on our cars? If we've declared ourselves to be Christ-followers, we're highly conspicuous in that light in which we claim to walk. What do people see when they look at us? At me?

            I felt so conspicuous the other morning, out there in the light on my walk between the house and the garage, out there between the earth and the stars where we all walk as long as we walk this Earth. What do people see?

            In this season in which we celebrate our Lord's birth, it's my prayer for you and me that we can keep our eyes fixed on the Invisible One who came to Earth from beyond the stars.

 Daye Phillippo, December 2016

 *"Stars" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLJyjfyACM