A friend bought me the Golden Compass trilogy (His Dark Materials) for my birthday. I finished them a few weeks ago--wow. It is a collection of some of the darkest fantasy I've ever read. I walked away feeling desperately hopeless. My mood remained despondent for about three days; I felt like I had wasted more of my life than just the time reading the books. I don't know about you, but no matter what I read, I usually can pull a picture from it that helps something, somehow. I could not with these books. They hurt.
To battle that, I started re-reading one of my favorite authors: C.S. Lewis. I'm almost done with Out of the Silent Planet, and it has been so refreshing! Sheesh. How important is our perspective in life?
As I'm finishing Lewis' book, I realized there was some stuff in His Dark Materials that I can keep with me: understanding others' perspective on the institution of the church, realizing that my idealism is fine, but I need to be able to accept that not everyone has the same perspective, and finally, a metaphor that ticked me off at first.
{Spoiler Warning!--not that I would recommend the books unless you were mature enough to handle it--definitely not children's books!}
In the end, death (and "God") is overcome--everyone who has finished life is released from limbo land, and becomes Dust (fairly equivalent to the Force). No more uniqueness, no more suffering, just becoming a part of everything else.
I didn't like this perspective at first (along with some other bits about the end that are unimportant here), until I realized something last night.
I am nameless. What I do, is less about who I am, and more about who Yahweh is. I've been raised in a Capitalistic, Individualistic Society that values what I, Ron Napier, can accomplish. It's only when I die to self that I can truly live, right? As long as I am trying to build up my resume, promote my name (blog?), seek affirmation in what I do--I will not be truly free to serve Him.
He became less to save me. The only value I have is based on His view--and He was willing to die for me; otherwise I would be worthless.
Less of me Lord, to the point of being nameless.
