Faith
S tay i n g i n t h e B l e s s e d P l ac e
W
by Rev. Dr. Wendy R. Coleman
When I was a little girl, I remember my sisters and me sitting in our front room talking about where we were going to live when we grew up. We were discussing it with such enthusiasm that you would have thought we had crystal balls or had been allowed to peek into the future and see it for ourselves. One of my sisters said New York or California would be her home. Another said Texas for one reason or another. I, unlike my siblings, played it safe. My proclamation was that I’d always live in Mississippi. As a matter of fact, my house would be right across the field from our parents so I could see them anytime I wanted to. Yes, I would be the one who stayed close to home . . . Well, needless to say, all of us were wrong! The sister who was going to live in Texas now resides in North Mississippi near Tupelo. The one who would make the Big Apple or Hollywood’s state her home now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. And what about me? I had to be more wrong than either of them. Not only did I not stay at home after graduating from high school, I’ve lived in 3 different states and have only just moved close enough to my parents to see them quite often. But it’s still not right across the field! My sisters and I were like most of us. We usually envision our lives manifesting a certain way, going in a certain direction and having particular results. We create marvelous visions involving what we’ll accomplish, who we’ll marry (or not), the beautiful home we’ll live in, the fabulous cars we’ll drive . . . we dream of the best, most blessed outcomes simply because the human spirit is wired that way. But sometimes when life doesn’t follow the path we dreamed it would, we have to regroup. When the marriage doesn’t last… When the job comes abruptly to an end... When death slips in like a thief and carries a loved one away unexpectedly… When the house we worked so hard to make a home is swept away in seconds under nature’s wrath called a tornado. For most if not all of us, there comes a moment when we find ourselves standing with tear-filled eyes wondering, “What happened to my dream?” Those are the moments, my dear friends, when the Holy Spirit, God’s presence in the earth, leaps into action! With swift and unwavering precision, the Spirit of God begins to work showing us that despite how hard it is to remember the sweetness of the dreams we created for our lives, despite how much pain the current moment might hold for us, despite the difficulty we might have in just returning a genuine smile, the Holy Spirit comes to whisper in our spiritual ear, “You are still in the blessed place . . .” Even though it’s not where you thought you would be, “You are still in the blessed place.” Even though others have walked away from you, “You are still in the blessed place.” Even though you can’t see what The Father is doing, “You are still in the blessed place.” If God’s Spirit is with you, wherever you are is . . . the blessed place. Rev. Dr. Wendy R. Coleman serves as Pastor of First Congregational Christian Church, UCC, and as Chair for the Department of Theatre Arts at Alabama State University.
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The Pride of Montgomery