“Come Up From the Basement”

           I once heard the story about a minister who had, years ago, reached a very low point in his life. He thought his ministry was over, his marriage was over, even wondered whether or not his life was over. He was depressed and broken and in great despair. He decided that what he needed was time away from his church and family to try and pull himself together so he took a leave of absence and went to Yukon, Canada to stay with a friend.

           When he arrived he learned that his friend had made a place for him to stay in the basement of his house. In these small living quarters there was a kitchen, a bathroom, a nice bedroom; and the minister was told by his friend that he could stay as long as he wanted and he would not be bothered. It seemed like the perfect set up for the troubled man.

           After he had been there a couple of days, it was late during the night and the minister had gone to bed. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. “Jim,” the voice said, “Jim, get up! Get up! Come up from the basement!”

           Jim was startled by the voice and the alarmed message so he jumped up, threw on some clothes and hurried up the stairs from the basement to the ground floor of the house and there stood his friend. “Come here,” he said. “You’ve got to see this!”

           Jim followed his friend as he led him outside. There he pointed upwards and there in the sky was the display of the Northern Lights with their dancing stars and brilliant colors that broke open the darkness of the night. It was as nothing he had ever seen.

           Years later, as he was recalling this event, recalling this despairing time in his life, he said to someone that he was never sure how it was that he was going to pull himself out of the funk he had fallen into. He said that it was on that night that he saw the Northern Lights that everything changed for him. He said, “You know, if I had never come up from the basement, I would have never seen the magnificent sky. I had to get out of bed, put on some clothes, and walk up the stairs. And that was when I found my hope!”

           If you’re like me, the things of this world can keep you camped out in the basement, stuck in a place without hope, without imagination, without the opportunities to see beauty shine. It is so easy to live beneath our call to believe, our promise of joy.

            As we move through this Holy Week, may you find a restlessness to move you out of despair or bitterness or doubt. May you find strength and courage to move out, to move ahead, to move forward in new life.

You are the light of the world!

Yours,

Lynne