Settled
Did they all get so stuck in their places that they could no longer separate themselves from the land they camped on — they grew into it?
(page 4, chapter 1, Zo’s Quest —Book One—)
This passage reveals insight to the dream I dreamt which served to conceive Zo’s Quest.
In my dream, I was climbing the face of a mountain, looking for my brother.
As I reached a summit, there was a path laid out before me, and all along the path were boulders, stumps and brambles. But here, Mother Nature’s ordinary decor was extraordinarily unnatural.
They were all alive, talking in restless monologue.
Imagine with me, a living wilderness…
Limbs grow indistinguishable from rocks and trees, seamlessly transitioning from individual to nature as flawlessly as trunk becomes roots and roots become grounded.
(page 4, chapter 1, Zo’s Quest —Book One—)
Along this mountain path, my dream conjured animated bushes and stones — souls stuck, embodied in nature.
After my initial shock, I remembered my task, and stepped over and around them to continue on.
Then I woke up, shook.
I recognized this dream wasn’t just another dream, and asked God what it was all about?
Why were people literally becoming a part of the land?
Here’s what I understood:
Those transitioning, although on the path, had settled along the way rather than continuing to pursue it.
In settling, they were growing into the path itself. The natural consequence of choosing stasis was indistinguishable fusion to the land.
Their settlement made them obstacles along my way.
I’m sure this visual analogy can be applied to lots of things, but what came to mind was the context of my upbringing in Church. In those hazy moments of restlessness I realized, although there are many who subscribe to following Jesus, someone actually pursuing Jesus is a rare find.
There’s more to Christianity than declaring that path. That’s just a starting point. Christianity was never meant to be something I claim as part of my identity.
Christianity is aligning my identity with Jesus, which means I need to get to know Jesus.
And like my relationship with my husband whom I have know since we were teenagers, the more I know him, the more I realize I’m still learning him. (Heck, I’m 40+ years into living and still learning about myself!)
Christianity is a commitment to be in relationship with Jesus.
To be committed in relationship is to be committed to intentional pursuit.
Me marrying my husband is not the happily ever after of fairytales. There’s a lot of work and pain and prayer that goes into it for both of us! We need to pursue each other or else we’d be married and miserable. (Our own trial and error has proven this.)
And that’s how so many Christians are:
Saved & Miserable.
Why?
Because knowingly or not, like marriage, they entered into relationship with expectations. Chances are, they believed Jesus was a genie in a Bible. After all, Scripture says, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:15)
It’s in red letters!
But verses were never meant to be pulled apart from chapters, nor chapters from their books. John 14:15 is the last verse in an entire passage (verses 7-15) about knowing Who Jesus is, what it means to love and be in relationship with Him.
And the very next verse says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:16)
Have you seen God’s commands? It’s an impossibly exhausting list! Which is why we need Jesus in the first place.
Our pursuit must not end.
There is no destination to be had.
I will never reach the pinochle of my faith, because my faith is in an all-encompassing God. That’s no excuse to stop. That simply means there’s always more to know and grow.
And when we stop pursuing God because doctrine or dogma says I’ve got it, we settle.
To stop pursuing is to settle.
We don’t stop growing. That’s not how life works. We just grow into, enmesh with what we’ve settled on.
Have you ever seen a tree grow over or into an object? My dad built a treehouse when we were kids, and over time, the tree grew around and seemingly absorbed the planks bolted to it.
When I’ve decided to believe my husband is selfish, I settle on that. That belief begins to manifest itself through my behavior toward him. My belief takes over me. I am not a pleasant wife when I believe my husband is selfish.
There’s hope, even for the settled.
But if I confront that belief by confessing it to him, I give him insight to how I’m interpreting him. And he can then provide me with the context I can’t see — his actual intent.
I can choose to return to pursuing him, but that choice requires an uncomfortable, intentional disruption of what I’ve chosen to believe.
Not everyone who hurts wants to be healed. I suppose the healing can often hurt more or differently than the pain they are accustomed to. Healing the soul is not as simple as healing the body.
(Page 60, chapter 13, Zo’s Quest —Book One—)
It’s amazing how often misinterpretation leads us astray.
If we didn’t pursue each other, we’d be awful together.
Undeniably, confrontation is hard. And too many settle into settling because I guess that’s just going to be the way it is.
You settled. And yet here you are. You settled, but that does not define you. Listen, young one, you must NOT let that define you. You did not stay there, and there is still much ahead of you. You overcame…
(page 103, chapter 19, Zo’s Quest —Book One—)
Friends, we don’t have to settle.
We can wrestle with God.
We can doubt and question, argue and yell, and ugly cry because even in the holiness of all-power and all-knowledge, God is compassionate and wants to be in relationship with us.
The pursuit is good news.
I hope you choose to pursue your path. Don’t settle. Don’t become an obstacle.
I wonder if the “narrow road” would be wider if those who settled along it returned to their pursuit...
Join in the journey.