In his poem The Builders Henry Longfellow said, “ Our todays and yesterdays are the blocks with which we build.” Some may call this poetic reference to the human condition a product of his genius while others would believe him to have simply been inspired.
In one line Longfellow speaks to each personality and every inter-personal relationship living. Our yesterday has a tremendous effect on the person we are today and the person we are today will influence the person we desire to be tomorrow.
How are you in this process? Does your memory of yesterday hold precious keepsakes, which beckon you now and then, or is it a chamber of horror you desperately try to forget?
The Apostle Paul speaks of process in his first letter to the Corinthian Church. “ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (I.Cor.1: 18)
The key to understanding this verse is two fold. First the verb tense is crucial and secondly the cross is central. He does not reference those who have perished or shall perish but those who are in the process of perishing.
Like wise the latter part of verse eighteen speaks to those in the process of being saved. The gift of life is instantaneous in Christ but Christ likeness is a process. During the process we often feel we have failed and wonder if it is possible for God to still love us. If this describes your emotions it is crucial that you to realize the process is not yet complete. There is hope because in the Cross God redeems the process of reconciliation.
When the poet of the Nineteenth Century and The Apostle Paul both look to the human condition and find a process it speaks to my soul and shows me a reflection of grace.
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