Note: “Letters of Love from Above” is a series of letters that I would imagine a loving Heavenly Father might write to you. If you are uncomfortable with that idea, imagine Life, or The Universe, Truth or Karma, Mother Earth, Mother Teresa, or Mother Goose, for that matter, is writing the letter. But for me, it is a loving God reaching down to His sons and daughters as I would imagine that reach looking like in words.

My Dear Child,

Do you feel lost and alone? Trapped in circumstances you don’t feel are in your control to change?

Are you stuck, desperate, empty, disillusioned?

Do you feel abandoned, forgotten, discarded, left behind, tossed aside?

Has life been turned upside down and pulled inside out?

Are you in pain, broken, smothered, depressed, unable to move or breathe or think or hope?

You may even be angry at Me and want to throw in the towel and walk off the field.

I understand.

But please, don’t.

Hold on.

Stay in the game.

The Sun Will Rise Again

You need to know that the mountain you are climbing does not rise forever. There is a peak. You will reach it.

I know that you may not feel like holding on anymore, much less climbing any longer. Your arms ache, your legs are cramping and your head is throbbing with an ache that won’t go away. The emptiness you feel is bearing down on you, closing in on you, pushing at you, scraping and scratching at the walls of who you think or thought you were.

But only I can see the end from the beginning.

And I need you to know that the sun will rise again. The seasons will change, the pain will fade, the intensity of the darkness you feel engulfing you into its nothingness will eventually be replaced with hints of light and hints of love and hints of joy once more. And then that light will grow. And so will the love and so will the joy.

So I want you to know that there are better times ahead. The pain will fade. The emptiness will slowly be filled. The darkness will be replaced by growing degrees of light.

If it feels like there is no way out, that light will never shine again in your life, that there is no use continuing, trying, smiling, wishing, wanting anymore, I need to remind you that you are my creation. You are my child. I am your Father.

That means more than you can understand right now.

But this much I can assure you: There is a part of me inside of you. There burns within you the spark of divinity. The flame of eternal potential still flickers in your darkness even if you can’t see it or feel it right now.

You Matter

You are of infinite worth to Me.

The love I have for you is greater, stronger and deeper than the bitterness or disappointment or pain or sadness you feel right now.

I know it feels like you are wandering aimlessly in an eternity of emptiness and pain, each desolate day bleeding into the next mind-numbing day of desperation. But believe me when I tell you that it is decidedly not at eternity.

I Know Eternity

Please don’t take this the wrong way when I say that your trials are just a blink of an eye in the eternal scheme of things. I know it doesn’t feel that way, of course. But your perspective is tied to your experiences. Mine is not. My perspective stretches through the eternities. And that, by the way, is where my focus is too.

My perspective reaches far beyond the horizon or your vision. Yours is on mortality. Mine is on immortality. Yours is now. Mine is forever. Yours is on your suffering. Mine is on what your suffering will produced inside of you in the long run.

Mountains to Climb

All my children, therefore, have mountains to climb, just like One once had a cross to bear.

You see, valleys don’t climb. Despite the comfort and beauty and peace of warm sun-lit valleys, you would be left at the end of the day, unrefined, your potential unmet, your character untried, and your soul would be no better off than before entering the valley.

Valleys are flat. But mountains rise.

You were never meant to live out your days in equanimity, comfortably stuck in your comfort zone. Life is all about rising, about growing, about climbing and becoming.

Not in relation to anyone else, but in relation to your own potential. I know what that potential is and it is so much more than you even have the capacity to imagine.

So my role as your Heavenly Father is to stoke those coals of potential, to allow you to pass through the chilling winters and scorching summers of life, to sometimes descend into the dark abyss of pain to help forge inside of you something so much more than you can see right now.

Mountains, as you certainly know, require much from those who climb them. They test you, putting callouses on your feet and muscles in your legs and backs and shoulders. They require strength and commitment, endurance and a willingness to push beyond your limits. And so they build inside of you those qualities of eternity that have not yet matured on their own.

By the time you reach the top of your mountain, you will have become someone a bit stronger and more experienced than you were before you started. You will be filled with more confidence and capacity. You will be tougher and stronger and kinder and more compassionate.

So please, hang on. Push on. Endure on.

Life is about Climbing

I have seen untold numbers of people over the millennia come so close to the end, so close to achievement, to success, to victory, to mastery, to breakthrough, then quit, never realizing that had they simply held on a moment longer, they would have found the beginning of peace and joy and rest.

So please endure as well as you can. I will be there, walking in your every step. I will be there in the cool morning breeze as a reminder that I have not forgotten you. I will be there in the songbird’s whistle reminding you that you have not been forsaken. I will be there in the warm sun on your face, the hug of a friend, the smile of a child, the morning glow of a distant sunrise as a reminder that there will always be new days and there will always be cause for hope.

If you are never called to climb your own personal mountain, where would your toughness come from? Where would your confidence that you can climb future mountains come from? Where would your perseverance and inner strength and even your compassion for others on similar journeys, your ability to inspire others up their own mountains come from? And what about humility and a tender heart and the ability to mourn with those who mourn?

You are becoming a better person than you ever could have in the flat valleys of content specifically because of the mountains in your life that call you to climb higher than you ever would have gone on your own, higher than you thought you could conceivably climb.

You are More than you Think

But I know how high you can actually climb. And I know the kind of person you will be on the other side of your mountain.

Please let me be clear that I’m not saying that I directed the drunk driver to drink or the shooter to shoot or the cancer to spread or the despot to abuse or the economy to collapse.

But what I am saying is that whatever your particular set of horrible, painful, desperate circumstances may be, that your bitter challenges can still lead to beautiful things if you are willing to climb.

Turning Problems into Opportunities

I don’t cause bad people to do bad things to good people. But I do know how you can turn the pain into something powerfully motivating and transformative in your life. I know how you can turn anger into forgiveness, hate into love, anxiety into peace and despair into joy.

I don’t take away problems so much as I help you take advantage of those problems. I help you turn negatives into positives. I help you to spot the silver linings to the dark clouds of life. I point out that even when everything seems to be falling apart, in fact, most of life isn’t. There is much to be grateful for. There is much to keep hope alive.

Every painful step is an opportunity for you to learn patience, to learn tolerance, to learn endurance, to develop your faith, to lean on Me, to take the next step when the next step seems scary or lonely or empty or pointless.

The steeper the mountain, the harder the climb, for sure. But when you stay the course, you will also find that steep mountains lead to the most breathtaking views as well.

Grow

One of the most basic purposes of life is to grow, to change, to improve, to polish the rough parts of your life, to buff up the murky raw materials, turning you into something better, higher, more passionately committed to a life of love.

And that, to me, is the most beautiful view.

That process, though, like any refiner’s fire, can hurt tremendously. But keep in mind that your pain is evidence that you are, in fact, in that fire, refining your very being, preparing you for better, higher, more eternal things.

So please don’t give up. Push forward yet another day.

I will not abandon you in your trials. I will not forsake you in your tribulation. While the challenges you face are largely yours to endure, here’s what I certainly will do as you reach to me in your darkest hours:

I will hold your hand.

I will point the way.

I will wipe away your tears.

I will listen.

I will understand.

When you cry to me, I will come to you.

You will sense me in your heart. You will hear me in the truths you will learn as you climb. You will feel Me lighten your load as your shoulders are made stronger, more able to bear the weight of your trials and challenges.

I will encourage you and inspire you and reveal myself to you along the way, as you fight, as you struggle, as you work, as you endure, and as you climb.

View from the Top

There is a beautiful view from up here. There is peace and joy and the profoundest contentment born of the profoundest accomplishment.

And remember, and never forget, that I love you. More than you can possibly understand. But that love motivates Me to allow you to climb higher than you otherwise would. Because, in the end, it is up here, higher than you currently are, that I dwell.

So come meet me on the mountain. I’ll be there with you, leading you, comforting you, healing you, directing you, correcting you, encouraging you, inspiring you, and revealing Myself to you in the all the details of your life.

The personal mountain you are climbing now will help you learn to see me there. And how could I possibly remove that opportunity from you?

With Love,

Your Father in Heaven

Photo: Royalty Free from Pexels