Does it ever happen to you, that when you're trying to solve a problem or remember something, that it'll come to you in the middle of the night? It's that sudden feeling of release and relief that I'm wanting to talk about.
I believe that everything moves in circles, history proves it time and time again. I find myself in the same emotional pits over and over again, each time I'm there, I can't remember how to climb out. What's even more annoying about being stuck in a pit, is knowing that there's a rope there that will save you, but being to blind to see it or proud to climb it. I'm not sure which I am, blind or proud, but it's in that rush of solution (that will wake you up in the middle of a sound sleep), that you want to slap yourself for taking so long to figure out the same thing you'd figured out before.
I have so many directions that my mind is going with this topic, that I'm not sure I'll be able to make anything make sense here, but I'm going to give it my best shot.
In the sport of archery, targets have a series of tighter and tighter circles used to measure distance from the central point. The larger the circle, the further the distance from the central point. This leads me to my next thought on circles.
If history repeats itself, it can be cylindrical. If the diameter of a circle is representative of the amount of time that it takes to complete travel around itself (not sure if that makes sense), you would hope for a funnel effect to occur. Smaller and smaller circles, less and less time to complete the circuit, growing closer and closer to that central point, the target.
Missing the mark, in archery, is called "sin." Missing the mark is what I do each time I fall into a pit. There is, however, a miracle which ALWAYS happens when I'm stuck, and this makes me think of a book a read a couple of years ago.
The Shack, by William P. Young, it's not the most scripturally sound book ever written, as some people I've talked with, would have you to believe. However, there's a point in the book, where the character representative of God, is asked about forgiving repeated offenses. The character responds by explaining that it already knows (being God) how many time the offense will be committed, so with each occurrence, the offending person becomes that much closer to "getting it" and no longer committing the same act. It's not a matter of, "you've done it for a fourth time!", it's a matter of, "only 70 more times to go!" until you don't do it anymore.
However long it takes, that's how long I'll be forgiven for falling into pits that require rescue. I went to bed yesterday in fear of falling, but I woke up with a rope in my hand. All that being said, I'm going to bring this thing full circle (haha, see what I did there?), and close by saying that it's comforting to know that in the darkest places, hope exists, there's always a way out, and all we have to do is stay on track and keep shooting for that target.
