THE ACTUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THINGS
“Pitfalls he must find on that journey, blind paths perhaps, but through it all the philosophy of belief in the essential goodness, the actual significance of things created, the state of being, ‘in love with life.”
– Frances Chesterton, The Wit and Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton
Christmas was a very important season to Frances. It was her personal hopes that guided her on her own journey toward Christ through the Advent time. Her hopes as a Christian for the return of Christ and her personal hopes that she might be blessed with a child of her own were very connected. And it was this hope unfulfilled that shaped her own recognition of the “actual significance of things” meant by God in our lives:
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.… ( Acts 17:26)
As we continue our own Advent journey toward Christ, do we find that God is allowing us to recognize our own pitfalls and blind paths so that we come to understand His essential goodness apart from our own heart’s desires?
