Saturday, August 21, 2010

THE MIDDLE


They say that you are the beginning and the end. While that’s all good, swell, neat, great and all those nice little pleasant words. I seldom hear anyone speak about the middle. You may be the beginning; you created all, brought all into an existence that was previously not. You may be the end, the finisher, He who holds all of eternity in the palm of His hand. But what do they say about the middle. You know the portion of existence that we struggle through, the part of this thing we call life that no one can seem to get a handle on. Are you the middle as well? Or do you conveniently create, sit back and watch as that which you created struggle, stumbles, fight over non fundamental reason and then step in at the end of your creations life and hold a rod of judgment for their lack of understand, willpower, resolve and wisdom. So we hear that you are the beginning and the end, but are you also the MIDDLE? You know, that point in your creations life where they seem to have nothing left to fight for, that moment when they cry out to a “higher power” but get no reply. Are you the middle as well? You know, those segments in our walks on this planted where everything crashes and we have nothing left to sustain a suitable state of being. Are you the Middle too, or are you solely the beginning and the end. Is this destined to be the way of life we are forced to endure, a life where we cry out with no reply, a life where we struggle to make ourselves acceptable, to make ourselves appear more like you……starting something, then watching as it struggles to find meaning, know that the answers lie within us.

Or is it that just as much as you are the beginning, just as much as you are the end, you ALSO are the MIDDLE……Is this existence more meaning full then we could have, can or ever will comprehend? Is it that not only do you encompass what was, and what will be, but that you also encompass what is! Could it be that we, the creation, are so bogged down by the trials of life, the pressures of being, the tests of existence that we focus on what was and what could be, and neglect to realize what is. Are you also the middle? You know that moment in our journey when we must weigh the outcomes of every variation of every decision possible to calculate which is the better, perhaps lesser of all evils, or greater of all great decisions. Are you also the middle, where it appears we are all alone, yet strangely there is a presence of something we just can’t seem to grasp? Could it be that we merely, in our endeavor to succeed, or journey to understand, our quest to figure out what this all really means, glance over the fact that the middle consists of you just as the beginning and end do? Can there ever be a particular fragmentation in the MIDDLE that we see through the questions, through the uncertainty, through the enigma that is meaningful life, and see YOU. We struggle, we toil, we wrestle all for something that we know, we understand, we realize is finite. Yet we labor still. Could there…….could there be a moment, even if briefly, that our existence is transformed by the revelation that not only are you the beginning, not only are you the end, but you are also the MIDDLE. That time in our journey, when everything is wrong, yet somehow we know that it is alright.



Isaac A Valentin