Learning at the Bottom

Description

When life bottoms out, I see the quiet school of the soul open. I ask with you, what do we learn at the bottom? Where the wheels come off and clarity arrives in pieces. Swedenborg calls this a season of devastation, a deconstruct time that the Lord uses for redemption and reformation. God does not inflict a hard time on us. Hard times happen, and God meets us there, helping detach what harms and engraving on the heart the few essential truths that carry us. In family texts and hospital hallways I hear the same lesson repeat. Love each other. That simple. That profound. We hold a small life ring for today. We pray. We breathe. We remember Mark Twain’s line about the man who grabs the cat by the tail and “earns twice as much,” because mistakes can teach. And we trust that through ignorance and tribulation the Lord reforms and regenerates us, so we rise with a cleaner sight and a kinder love.