Daybreak was vanquishing the dark’s last hour,
which fled before it; in the distance, I
could recognize the trembling of the sea.
We made our way across the lonely plain,
like one returning to a lost pathway,
who, till he finds it, seems to move in vain.
--DANTE ALIGHIERI, Purgatorio
That one moment of recognition, when suddenly we can see where we should have been all along, makes the whole path worth the while. Everything seems vain while we search for it, but the finding makes the searching a blessing. God redeems the past, all things under the sun. Dante (I am reminded of Augustine, too), after he had undergone a hellish past, was able to look back on what had happened and see with fresh and bright gaze that God’s mercy had been with him through every step. The past that once was darkness is illuminated, and the sins that grip us with shackles of shame become glorious moments when we can acknowledge the power of the divine love that overshadowed us all the time.
Don’t let thoughts of vanity deter you on the quest for godliness, even as you walk across the lonely plain. Press into the kingdom of God. Seek him. All the moments that you did not find, once you have found, will become a precious article of praise to the Lord.
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