"Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard is not a book to read in a hurry. A hurried reading guarantees that much will be missed. A recent read had me holding the book in my hands thinking as much as it had my eyes moving across the pages. On one of the latter pages there is a word which I have not been able to put aside. Even when the book is closed, the words keep coming back to my mind. "There is no guarantee in the world. Oh your needs are guaranteed, guaranteed by the most stringent of warranties, in the plainest, truest words: knock; see; ask. But you must read the fine print, 'Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.'"
A little further down the page, there is more. "Your needs are all met. But not as the world giveth...You see the creatures die, and you know you will die. And one day it will occur to you that you must not need life." All of this was a word which required more thought than I came to the page ready to give. All of us who live more than a few years have times when we find ourselves thinking about our own death, but thinking about it in terms of not needing it took me to a different place.
Could it be that the moment of dying comes with an awareness that something more than life itself is needed? Could it be that this thing so precious to us, this thing we hold to more tightly than anything else is in the end something which is overshadowed by an even greater need? Could it be that as life slips away, the Hand that takes us provides the guaranteed need? Could it be that the One who slipped from the empty tomb that Sunday after the horrible day of crucifixion comes in that moment to take us to all that has been prepared for us? Yes. Yes! Thus, I believe. The promise of the Resurrected Jesus is the greater need, the guaranteed need, and He will be faithful to meet it. Yes. Yes! Yes!
A little further down the page, there is more. "Your needs are all met. But not as the world giveth...You see the creatures die, and you know you will die. And one day it will occur to you that you must not need life." All of this was a word which required more thought than I came to the page ready to give. All of us who live more than a few years have times when we find ourselves thinking about our own death, but thinking about it in terms of not needing it took me to a different place.
Could it be that the moment of dying comes with an awareness that something more than life itself is needed? Could it be that this thing so precious to us, this thing we hold to more tightly than anything else is in the end something which is overshadowed by an even greater need? Could it be that as life slips away, the Hand that takes us provides the guaranteed need? Could it be that the One who slipped from the empty tomb that Sunday after the horrible day of crucifixion comes in that moment to take us to all that has been prepared for us? Yes. Yes! Thus, I believe. The promise of the Resurrected Jesus is the greater need, the guaranteed need, and He will be faithful to meet it. Yes. Yes! Yes!
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