This line from the film E.T. has been rumbling around in my head. It is the scene where E.T. and Elliot are connected in an isolation medical tent. The adult is communicating that he also knows about E.T. and has seen evidence in the forest. He means to connect with Elliot so that he can save them. I saw the forest for myself this week. In the film it is a place of understanding, rescue, recovery, and redemption. It can also be a dark, confusing, and scary place. I mean, after all, the forest had its alien elements.
There is a Chinese Proverb, “The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man perfected without trials.” We go to the forest and hash out disappointments, family, and friendships. These can be hard stories with misunderstandings. People change. People fall out of love or aren’t really who they said they were. Medical issues can affect someone’s thinking. People grow apart or hear things that were never said. Friction builds or breaks relationship. We are in the forest hoping for goodness and around the corner comes a wallop out of no-where. Being right or winning seem to become the only thing that matters to us – not grace or understanding. Psalm 28:7, NLV, “The Lord is my strength and my safe cover. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. So my heart is full of joy. I will thank Him with my song.” I can go to the forest and try and hope again.
Steve Hermon sends out a daily email with todays proverb and verse (above). Today he sent, “When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.” – St Francis de Sales. Ephesians 4:2, The Voice, says, “Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love.” Wishing your forest is thick today with love and not all of the other.