Journey to Peace in Christ: Riding the Big Camel

Rebekah bravely rides the camel
on the journey to her new life, feeling peace in trusting to God’s plan.
This post studies peace in Christ.

2000 Years Ago: Rebekah Journeys On With Peace

“Halt!  We stop here for the night!”

The servant’s voice rang out above the noise of the camel train, and Rebekah felt she had never heard a more welcome command.  Every bone aching, she slid to the ground before anyone could come to her assistance.  She had known the journey would be long, but she hadn’t had a clue what it would be like to ride on a camel’s back day after weary day.  She now realized respect for the traders who had come to her father’s city from distant lands.

Rebekah waited quietly for her maids, then allowed them to help her to the tent the servants set up for her each night.  “Thank-you,” she murmured gratefully.  “This will be wonderful.”

“You’re welcome, my lady.  You have been very brave.”

“Has Abraham’s servant spoken about the morrow?”

“Indeed.  Abraham’s servant says that on the morrow we shall be sure to come into Isaac’s fields.”

Rebekah’s heart warmed at the words.  Only one more day!  Only one more day, then their difficult journey would be over.  She knew she would never have been able to make it if not for the calm confidence that she was doing the right thing.  That she was fulfilling God’s plan for her life.  The words of Abraham’s servant re-surfaced, then she fell asleep whispering to herself: “He is a man who fears God.”

All the discomforts of the trail, her intense longing to be free of the endless dust and continual rocking of the camel, would soon be over.  She savored the thought of destination… that her destiny…

the thing God had prepared for her…

would begin at the end of this camel journey.

Today: Finding Rebekah-Peace in Christ

Rebekah got up on the big camel, likely for the first time in her life.  She had the faith she was doing the right thing.

In Bible times, camels had a lot of symbolic meaning. They were a symbol of prosperity. Anyone who owned a camel would be equal to a millionaire today. The type of camel Rebekah rode, with one hump, was used for long distance travel because of its speed. The two humped camel was the beast of burden. Any camel signifies a journey of some type, and a journey on a camel with one hump symbolizes a journey to success and prosperity.

However, on the long journey to her new country, to her new life, to her new man!…

Rebekah had a lot of time to think. So much time to second guess and dread and imagine all kinds of bad stuff.

Also, the journey would have worn her out.  Physically bumping along on the hump of a camel?  Day after long day?

But we do that, you know.

We get up on a strange camel of a new job; new weight-loss goal; or a new marriage; beginning a family; beginning a new learning course; any beginning…

Then we find out that beginning a new journey is the easy part.

So we got on this camel. The journey turns out to be long and hard.

What happens now?  Bail out?  Turn back?  Forget the goal?

So yesterday I had the gorilla of all pity parties.

Why does being the family of someone on the spectrum have to be so hard? Why is the journey for someone on the spectrum so close to impossible? Can we get off this camel?

No. We are glued to these humps for the rest of our lives. The end of our journey has to be little destinations.  Little wins.  Small accomplishments. Because there’s no big hey-it’s-over, deep-breath, begin-anew, glorious win-over-cancer journey, where we attain the cure and beat all the odds. It’s a two hump camel.

No, the camel of autism will continue throughout our earth journey.

Someday, when your autistic child is three or four or five, you will learn a very important lesson. You will learn that it isn’t about you. Or what you are missing out on.

It’s a very hard lesson to learn. At least it was for me. Because it didn’t make it any easier for my heart…

You will fake a smile. You will tell them it will be better next year. …spend the night crying. And wondering why.

…You will see all the other children and their moms enjoying themselves and you will wonder why?

Why is this so hard for my child? Only you won’t have an answer. No matter what you do, even if you tell yourself it’s because your child is autistic, it still won’t fix that void of what you are missing out on. Not yet at least.

And you will grieve. Oh, my God will you grieve. You will watch your friends or siblings with their kids who seem to enjoy everything. And you will wonder why your child is different. And why it feels like you are missing out.

findingcooper’svoice.com

So, yes, I went down that rabbit trail of what-ifs and regrets and questioning why.

So yes, yesterday.  I allow myself one day.  Or part of a day.  Or half an hour.

Because if I want to survive, if I want to have peace in Christ, I have to get onto a different camel.

I have to climb back onto the camel I usually ride, the one that finds the joy in the journey, that celebrates small moments, and that finds calm in the midst of a continual storm. 

I have to

Get back onto the camel called Peace.

So I direct my energy to focus on the big picture. The picture of Peace in Christ.

Then the ride smooths out again.

I’m seeing the flowers growing against all odds in a desert landscape.

I’m thrilling at the win of a new job interview that could begin the best job opportunity ever.

And if the job doesn’t turn out to be workable,

then we’ll find a new goal.

A new purpose to life.

When I’m clinging to the camel named Peace,

I thank every friend who makes the ride easier, who texts us a funny song so we can laugh,

asks us for coffee so we feel worthwhile,

wants help with a project so we feel useful,

invites us to the party so it seems we are loved. (Even if we can’t go.)

Then the camel named Peace rides quietly over the ups and downs,

And allows me to hear God’s voice,  to feed on His comfort Food,

feel Him nudging me to joy,  quieting the voices of discord and distraction.

Soon I find myself humming a song, 

then enjoying the sunset,

marveling at the beauty of the purple Queen of Siam blooming through the lily pads in the pond.

May your Journey to Fruit of the Spirit be infused with Peace.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

Ten “Friday of Preparation” studies align the story of Rebekah in the Bible
with a Fruit of the Spirit, then concluding with the “Legacy” post.
The series begins with “Love.”

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