Wait.
Where did they go? The people you knew. Surrounded, you find yourself alone. Crowds roar a deafening joy. You slump. Music fills the air. Memories are leeched on your thoughts. Emotions come and go, racing through your bewildered heart. Confusion. Fear. Regret. Depression. Aggression. Innocence. Guilt. It is then you realize it. It was you who fell. It was you who got lost. It was you who abandoned everyone else. You want it back. Your life. You scream. No one answers. You cry. No one sees. You plea. No one helps. Forsaken. Outcast. Alien. Hollow, you beckon for a glimpse of peace. You become eager for a moment absent of this bitterness. Desperate, you find yourself behind an unfamiliar face. One which people acknowledge you. Your success. Your infinite wisdom. Your greatness. Your deceit. Your heart crumbles. Your face begins to twitch. You haven’t a clue what to do. Water colors the whites of your eyes clear. But not a drop falls from your sockets. Hollow you remain. You search deep, deeper for love and further from genuineness. Love in all the wrong places. Love in money. Love in works. Love in number and love in looks. You’ve fooled those around you. You’ve left them empty; but only half as empty as yourself. You’ve become barren as a desert, lonesome as a dove. And there, a realization: to surrender yourself. Surrender your bank card. Hand over your inequities, your injustices and invaluables. Let go of your prejudices, your grudges and griefs. Forgive and give. Give mercy. Give joy. Give love. Give faith. Find peace and passion, and pride in truth: truth in righteousness, faithfulness and fruitfulness. Be inspired by a supernatural desire that can only be implemented by God. Ask for such a desire that would bring true joy. Not that situational, relational, or familial joy – not any kind of joy that comes with a dependency. Search for true joy. Joy just because you can joy. Joy knowing God is good, knowing the love of God, and loving the joy God has given you. Joy because the sun is shining, the rain is falling, the earth is spinning, gravity is working, birds are chirping, winds are blowing, and rivers are roaring. But ask for this desire not with a self-motivation that would yield self-gratification for your own mere joy (because you’ve not been given joy just to keep it to yourself in silence); but ask for it in love, that you may be an encouragement to those around you. Ask for such a desire that would unveil self-actualization in acknowledging your present call. Not your call for two years from now, nor two days, two hours, or two minutes. You are called right now. You are equipped. You are ready. No excuses. No pitter patter pity trips. Right now there is someone out there you can be affecting, with a smile, a gesture of kindness, a good word, or even just a silent prayer. Ask to know that calling right now, and be faithful to it. Be faithful for once. Not just for a few minutes. Not just for a day or a week. Be faithful for eternity. Be faithful with the expectation of greatness. God’s greatness is upon us. He is moving. And He doesn’t move with just one or two people. He moves with His entire body of people. He is moving with you, and me, and everyone else around us. Expect Him to move through you. He will. And if you’re confused, disheartened, lost, bewildered, grieved, depressed, or maybe just lazy, you have an indispensable weapon from God: prayer. Pray, pray, thank, pray, thank, pray, pray, pray, thank, and pray some more – throughout the day, for strength, for wisdom, for other people as well as yourself. And if all else fails, love, not out of expectation for dividends, but because you can, and joy as well as encouragement will find its way to you.
