viernes, 31 de mayo de 2013

Trapezes of the Soul, by Roberto Ornan Roche

Trapezes of the Soul

By Roberto Ornan Roche

                                 

I

 

The trapeze artist remains serene, poised way up high above the spectators. The safety net below no longer looks too weak or narrow, as it did when he was new. That was a long time ago.

 

Now he does not even consider the possibility of error - his hands have proven to be sure and steady.

 

Over on the far side, other hands are waiting for him, hands that thousands of times have not failed to hold him at exactly the right moment.

 

II

 

There are times in our lives when we experience trapezes of the soul. At such moments we must decide, with all the strength of our hearts, if we truly wish to release ourselves from our heavy loads and instead trust the sure and steady hands of God.

 

Although we now face many challenges and questions, we were first of all motivated to believe in the truth. Faith sometimes seemed to be lost, while promises were in conflict and seemed as distant as old memories.

 

But God helped us when we thought we would plunge out of control, and today everything depends on our own trust in His promises.

 

III

 

The first acrobatic performance will begin, but among the public is a Christian who finds it very difficult to believe in and trust God when tragedies occur around him, or even in his own life, and he lacks a true Christian understanding of life.

 

He believes that without faith it is impossible to believe in God, and that to be able to have effective and real faith it is necessary to understand why we are sometimes left with nothing in our hands.

 

In some moments he has felt himself to be like a trapeze artist. He has felt that he wants things that maybe he can never reach. Things that are a complete impossibility. But then, when he starts to feel that way, his heart is filled with sorrow as he imagines that during his lifetime he will come to regret giving up on his greatest desires, even though everything seemed apparently to be lost.

 

He has asked God thousands of times how to remove his pain. And amid such trials he feels, from time to time, that he lacks a safety net  that might help him try for a miracle in his life once again. When he loses his faith like that he feels that his life is crumbling and that friends are no longer able to say anything new that is encouraging.

 

IV

 

So "trapezes of the soul" means to come unbound into the hands of God, to trust in His arms and to keep faith alive.

 

It is true that the wrists hurt, becoming red and cramped after so much time spent on one's own efforts. They are swollen, with a lot of pain. But what will happen then if a person abandons the search for the most beautiful and important miracle?

 

 

V

 

The trapeze artists prepare for the execution of their last act, while the public applauds them. A moment before, all the senses were in their hands, in the accomplishment of each act of acrobatics.

 

Now the heart is looking at the crowd and a sigh escapes from the agitated chest. The faces are all smiling, but they are smiles that are plastic and fake. Yet everything was a resounding success.

 

Seated among the crowd, the Christian is thinking of "trapezes of his soul." For a while, his mind fails to accompany the public that surrounds him, fervently applauding. Instead, he is meditating about the many times when he felt like one of those trapeze artists, when he did not follow the life that the world had offered him and decided to pursue the difficult path of faith.

 

Due to the blessed hand of God, the trapeze acts of his heart were successful. He gave everything when he seemed to be lost; and in exchange for the faith of his heart he found a better destiny for his life and his own soul.

He felt as if he were receiving a big hand of applause from the sky. He was simply one more trapeze artist. The hands of God had saved him.

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