It seems there are surprises in life and there are surprises that change our lives; and that from inside out! The song by Creed, With Arms Wide Open, is splendidly reminiscent of a time when we found a hope beyond anything of ourselves for the very first time.
It’s a time when there’s a flurry of emotion and delayed, or at least confused, expectation as we deal with fear of life-transforming change i.e. what will we lose? It seems whilst one life starts, the old one—the one we’re endeared to and know intimately about—is ending... what about our relationships, our hobbies, our future’s. All of life is up in the air, and whilst that can be exhilarating, it can also be slightly terrifying as the inevitable ‘cold feet’ chill us.
It’s an exhilarated anthem for the newly expectant mother and father. The father just hears the news and takes a day or five to get used to it. He’s suddenly found in a ‘place’—a heart place—where he’s met with bliss. ‘What will it be like?’ he thinks, over and again. And nothing can prepare him for that joy which comes the moment his baby is born.
He’ll find holding his baby the best natural high he’s ever experienced. It’s a total mystery.
And this glittering joy is what the anointing of God is like; be it at the height of the great peaks of life or in the shallow depths, though the latter is more difficult to convey or explain.
To approach life ‘with arms wide open’ is the wish of every parent for their every offspring—to not be hedged into a world that has so successfully hedged us in. We start with such hope. It’s a panacea, of course, and one that needs the grace of God to temper it against likely or certain despair when we find out that they too will have a broken life; everyone does.
And this simply should further propel us to God who addresses our shortfalls. It’s only with him we can truly face life consistently with arms wide open.
Exhilarated joy is possible, and frequently at that. Teaching our kids that God’s grace alone is our only sufficiency is a fine start. It’s the only true start.
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