Psalm 12 - Unconditionally

Unconditional- total, absolute, unrestricted, unreserved, with no conditions or limits.

That word has been in the forefront of my thoughts. I’m beginning…no, not really beginning. I am continuing a journey. I don’t know that you ever really LEAVE the journey because if it is your passion you really can’t…your heart won’t let you. But sometimes you reach those times where it doesn’t feel like it is going anywhere. It is in those times that it is the most difficult to believe, to trust, to wait, and to not settle into a place of complacency; but instead keep the fires of passion burning awaiting the opportunity to proceed. Then paths clear, opportunities come…and you risk venturing onward. What is the risk? For me pursuing my dreams and passion involve the word unconditional. It means laying your heart out there totally, absolutely, unreservedly, with no limits…which is risking being hurt, not just a little but to the degree that you have laid it out there…totally, absolutely, no limits. What is the alternative? It is to settle for something less and always wonder what could have been. It is to allow fear to win and have regrets. It is to never experience the fullness for which you were created in this life. It is to not trust and never experience the joy of a shared journey. All of those things to me are far worse than the risk. I picture a turtle lugging around that heavy shell. Anytime anything in any way threatens them they just shrink back into that impenetrable fortress of protection. It is heavy and cumbersome. It slows the journey. Even when they do emerge the only things exposed are their legs and head. He doesn’t share the shell with anyone…he lives alone. I suppose in my own way I could choose to live hesitantly with that shell of protection surrounding my vulnerably exposed heart. I could proceed so cautiously that I never seem to get anywhere or even settle so that I never really get started at all. Out of fear of rejection I could choose to journey alone. Now I think of the word unacceptable. I can’t live that way, my passion won’t allow it. I am choosing to proceed unconditionally trusting that the One who has created this passion within will direct its journey. I am choosing to risk unconditionally in order to experience the joy of passion lived out fully. I am choosing to trust and love unconditionally in order to experience the joy of the journey shared with those God has chosen to walk beside me.