This is the final (!) episode of a six-part story. To read the rest of the series, go to Waking Desire. (The posts in the story are listed from newest to oldest. I\’m working on fixing that when I have patience to wrestle with WordPress.)
Also, I\’m still working on my sexier posts. Right now I\’m reading a book about polyamory. Intrigued??! Check back soon… In the meantime, let\’s get back to Emmy and her trail Viking. This post is long enough to split into several more episodes, but I won\’t make you suffer through that. 😉 Thanks for following!
Bryson would be leaving soon for some kind of orchard conference \”outside.\” (That\’s how Alaskans refer to places that aren\’t Alaska.) He\’d be visiting his own farm and planting thousands of trees. It had been six weeks and they\’d still only ever gone on walks. And in spite of very romantic things he said to her–like when she slipped on the ice, and he said \”next time, fall toward me. That\’s what I\’m here for.\” Or all of the lovely compliments he paid her–he\’d never so much as tried to hold her hand. Maybe he was shy, but that didn\’t seem right.
He left the state. He texted, but, oddly enough, only during the day. I won\’t go into details, but Emmy knew enough at this point about men juggling more than one relationship to know that was a bad sign. She waited until he got back to Anchorage. It wasn\’t a good day. Her car had been t-boned with her in it. She was sore, she was cranky. His text popped up, \”Hey, how about a walk?\”
\”You have a girlfriend outside?\” She was done waiting.
\”Yes I do… What makes you inquire?\”
\”Needed to test a hunch.\”
\”No worries. I was trying to find a way to tell you. Sorry.\”
Emmy was livid. That is not a detail you accidentally leave out of hours of conversation over weeks of time. She was mad at Bryson, but she was even more mad at God. God had lulled her into admitting desires on her heart that she\’d been pretty content keeping hidden. He\’d poked and prodded them to life again only to completely decimate them. Jerk.
Emmy was mad at God for weeks. Months, actually. Much longer than her time with Bryson had actually lasted. She still kept talking to Him, fists clenched, jaw tight. (God, not Bryson. That was O-V-E-R.) A friend pointed out that God doesn\’t as us to unclench our hands to leave them empty, but so that He can fill them. Let go to receive, not to lose. She knew it was true but she didn\’t want to buy into it. It felt too painful.
Gradually, the memories and her anger with God faded without being resolved. A year passed–a year that no one could deny was epic, even Emmy. Travel, amazing times with friends, unearthing new talents, reshaping her career… A lot of those things had even been spurred on by inspiration and encouragement from two of they guys she\’d dated. Still, Emmy occasionally thought back to Bryson, wondering what he was up to. She never saw him, even in the big small town of Anchorage. Maybe he\’d moved back to his orchard and his girlfriend. For some reason, she decided the story belonged in a blog about God breaking through to the small details of our lives, in a series about sex and relationships…
At this point, dear reader, I am going to shift to the present. I\’m sure you\’re shocked to learn at this point that Emmy is me. 😉 I never really knew what to make of this story. When I started writing it, I thought I was going to conclude it with a big question mark. I honestly don\’t even know why I started. I guess I like to write about God moments, and there were a lot of them in this story. Maybe I thought it would help me figure out what to make of God\’s seemingly contradictory, capricious behavior.
And then as I started writing, \”Bryson\” started showing up in my life again. That was weird. I really didn\’t know what to do with it, but there was no way I could let go of the series of coincidences. Once would be one thing, but several times in one week… While I was writing about him… Exactly a year after we last talked… It was just too much. We met for coffee. Twice. He still has a girlfriend. The brief spark of \”maybe he\’s changed and now is our time–maybe God is making good on his \’hold my beer\’ moment\” was extinguished pretty quickly. That wasn\’t too surprising. What was surprising was that 2018 Amy has no interest in the guy. None.
Seeing him sitting in front of me raised the hair on my neck, but when we met for coffee… nothing. I wouldn\’t be interested even if he didn\’t have a girlfriend. Even if he hadn\’t been the kind of guy to carry on an extended flirtation while hiding the truth about his availability. He\’s cute, he\’s funny, he\’s smart, he\’s interesting. I like where he\’s headed if he chooses to follow the hard and beautiful course of his life. But I know myself a whole lot better than I did a year ago. I think I have a ways to go before I feel confident I know what I\’m looking for in a partner, but I\’m more confident in who I am every day. I can\’t think of a better foundation than that. And I know enough now to know he\’s not for me.
Talking to him again has been like putting bookends on the last year of my life. It has given me a chance to look 2017 Amy square in the eye. I don\’t think I would have done that as honestly if my trail Viking hadn\’t shown up in my life again. I\’d have written this story and felt a little sad, and that would have been the end of it.
So, after all that, what do I make of all of those God moments, the beautiful signs written across this story? (Or, for that matter, the fact that they seemed to shift meaning over the course of weeks?) I\’ll try not to make generalities about how God uses signs or why. I\’ve been humbled enough by this not to venture there. But what I do know about Him is that He likes to be on the journey with me. (There\’s a reason they\’re called \”signs\”, not \”arrival depots.\”) He rarely offers easy answers. In my past experience, when His answers do come, they are far more breathtaking than the easy ones would have been. I think, given the choice, I\’ve seen enough to know that I actually prefer the hard road when it\’s the one God has laid out.
I\’ve realized that 2018 Amy wouldn\’t WANT to have a relationship just dropped in her lap like that. I want to build and hone my wish list with God. I want to grow and stretch into something and come alongside someone who is doing the same. Even if God did do easy answers, 2018 Amy would tell Him \”no thanks.\”
I\’m learning that, for me, the exhilarating life of faith isn\’t a passive one spent quietly submitting to the will of God (no matter how beautiful or how difficult). Faith pairs well with strong desires. Faith is bold. Faith takes action. Faith just doesn\’t know what the outcome is going to be, and so it is willing to hold the methods for getting there loosely even while pursuing them passionately. When God does drop hints, they are typically more along the lines of encouraging me to boldly go into the unknown than telling me what is actually going on. It\’s like driving a powerful car with great fuel in it, destination unknown (to me). God doesn\’t usually work in my passive hoping, He works with me, through me, as I act on it. Hope and action: both are required.
I\’ll leave you with my paraphrase of I Corinthians 13:8-13: Prophecies, signs, and wonders are just flashes in time of the glory of a timeless, infinite God. You think that you get it, you feel like you know, but knowledge is ephemeral. As beautiful as they are, these moments are echoes on the wind, a shifting reflection that disappears if you look directly at it. I used to cling to those, like a child. (Okay, I still do.) But, I\’m learning to look forward to the day when I will know and be known in the unflinching light of eternity. So, where does that leave me? Faith has me hoping for things without knowing how I will get them. Hope has me holding onto desire, even when my own lack of control of the outcome makes desire feel like a hot coal in my hands. And love, the greatest thing… Well, what are faith and hope without a God of love who knows what I need before I ask Him, without love for and from others to fuel my engine?
