The Mystery

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our holiness and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

We've all tried it and failed. We've all tried to do better but to no avail.

It seemed so much simpler as kids. All we had to do "to be good" was to put our toys away, be polite, eat our greens and just... pretty much do as we were told.

As we got older, "being good" was no longer as simple. We learned about the existence of possibilities and the power of choice. And there were a lot of distractions, too! With many of these diversions sometimes seeming infinitely more satisfying than what we were told was in the narrow and straight.

And then the blows come. Suddenly, we realize that the people we looked up to weren't really sole fountains of knowledge and wisdom all along. And to top it off, we suddenly discover that there really could never be anyone who was a model of perfection; man was never made to be infallible.

But deep inside, there is that yearning to be good. We try so hard but, by our own strength, we find we can't.

And then we "meet" the Lord.

And that is where the mystery begins...

Is it some kind of magic? No, of course not. We don't suddenly grow halos and angel's wings but it is still mysterious, is it not? What we could not do by our own strength, slowly, ever slowly, becomes a possibility, then a probability, and finally, a reality.

That is the mystery of Christ's redemption. There is no science or formula or logic to it. But it accomplishes what should have been impossible: a better Me. A "Me" that is slowly learning to value the wonder of life, the beauty of little things and the sanctity of relationships. A "Me" that has slowly turned into a person that pauses at the face of temptation and clutches at God's hands to help him/her through it. A "Me" that has slowly appreciated the profoundness of a handshake and the lasting wonder of a child's toothless smile.

It's a mystery that, in becoming a better "Me," all that really had to be done was to abandon my everything to Him. It's hard and with every test and failure, it's like dying every now and then but Lord! Oh, Lord! It's so worth it!

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