My thanks to CS Lewis, for the title, though I honestly think in his current state he is not too concerned. He is after all, out of the shadowlands.
Years ago I received a card with a quote that I thought was attributed to Lewis, but now that I try to find it, I can’t. So from memory I believe the statement was: “Between reality and the dream lies the shadow.”
I know I live in the reality side of that statement, at least on most days. Generally my reality is a pretty sweet place to be. I have a wise, compassionate and fun husband, a job/ministry that allows me to make an impact on the lives of others, family who I love (and they love me!), and a God who is ALWAYS with me.
Why then do I feel so restless?? No matter how great life is here, there is always a yearning for more that will never be met until I meet Jesus face to face in eternity. It is not necessarily a bad thing to live in the shadowlands between this life and Heaven. That motivates me to love and serve God and those He puts in my path.
Yet I still stumble too often into the “what could be” realm, of dreams that may never come true, of goals that I would like to see achieved, just plain old wishing and hoping, even envying something that is not God’s plan for me at least right now, or moving forward anticipating fear of something that “may be.” Spending too much time in the future (the dreams) or the dancing in the shadows around the future I find myself missing the beauty and preciousness of each moment in my reality. When I find myself in those shadowlands it’s time to join the prayer from Asaph from Psalm 73; when he found the reality around him to be unfair. (Parenthetical thoughts and emphasis added by me!)
Yet I (Asaph/Joan) am always with you (God); you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory/ Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.Good to be near God – that’s the shadowland where I want to be found; resting beneath the shadow of His mighty wings! (Psalm 17 and Psalm 91)
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