Day One

Day One // February 26 // The Roots of Apathy

“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.” – Bodie Thoene –

Rotten. It’s not a pretty word. It’s not an inviting word, and it’s certainly not a word that we’d want to describe us. But underneath all the gilding and frill with which we protect ourselves, there are seasons in all our lives when we’re confronted with the hollowness of a spiritual void, the deadening malaise of a soul once alive.

Doubt. Anxiety. Fear. Guilt. Shame. It takes on many names – each of them a sworn enemy of grace. Each seed robbing the fertile soil of our lives of its life-giving succor. Surrounded by these endless echoes of pain and brokenness, it’s easy for us to move to a place of helplessness and hopelessness. It’s easy for us to resign ourselves to a life trapped by un-feeling and un-caring

because we tell ourselves that apathetic numbness is preferable to suffering and pain.

But these holy days of Lent invite us to a new reality, to a new understanding: that it’s through suffering that we find salvation, that it’s in the dark where we find the Light, that it’s only in dying that we finally, fully find life… and life abundant!

The call of the crucified Savior was never one to safety. It was never one to ease. His call was never to a life without bumps or bruises. His stirring call was always to faithfulness – to surrendered service and humbled love… even for our enemies. It was to believe even when doubt threatened to undo us. Christ’s call was – and still is – to choose to feel, even when it feels better not to feel.

Healing for a soul so emptied is not found in more emptiness. It’s not found in apathy. It’s found in the hope that, for as real as the darkness is, it does not last forever. It’s found in moving through, working through, living through and feeling through the pain to find love and joy ripening on the other side.