Adolescence

           So
much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, an intolerable waiting, a longing for another place and time, another condition. 
Theodore Roelhke

Adolescence lives for experimentation, whether we like It or not. An in-between time, the age in which Abraham lived moves from childhood-identity to a trial and error of proving. Clinging to a hope of landing in a solid way, it seeks a not yet known ideal. 

Many Christian thinkers disagree with the term “adolescent;” however most would agree we don’t just jump from childhood to adulthood.

How does this relate to soul healing? Let us start with unconditional love. Unconditional love reigns extreme, radical, and stands a direct contrast to the best love man can work up. Let’s not water down what it means.

If we give our thoughts to meditating on it, we determine the best effort of love a human can make purposes loving, affirms strong conviction, and flexing strong emotions, gives it a go. This remains all well and good till, we face a situation which puts our own defenses on the line. Maybe the fortresses require a surrendering in order to love unconditionally. Well, when love requires a laying down of a life, unconditional love, extra-human, eternal, and nothing less, does not flinch.

The adolescent in-between one exudes emotion, hormone; unstable transitioning of life experience. This fluctuating person resides far from having built the necessary backbone for firm resolve. Problem; they think to know enough sometimes to try the impossible. In other words, they want frantically to show themselves as adults. When this happens a letdown usually results, as they unhappily discern the limit of the soul’s best and sincere effort. Words like “I love you” often are found imperfect, when the other party cheats or goes out with another.

Abram learned something of this lesson in the early going of his adventure in faith. When a famine overtook the land, Abe opted for escape to good old Egypt; problem was; he feared for his life because of the beauty of his Sarah. He was ascertaining the limit of his ‘noble’ capacity. He felt the leaders would take Sarah and kill him, so he made a plan to deceive the Ruler, and masquerade Sarah as his sister. This meant: if they took her, they wouldn’t have to kill him. Nice guy, huh?

Abe was protecting his own butt, and shockingly, caring little for what happened to his lucky wife. This proved to be blatant self-absorbed preservation of the proverbial rear-end; in protecting the big number one, unconditional love distances itself from the mind of Abraham at this juncture.

Well, Abe was not going to be a friend to his wife, but God proved a friend to them both, intervening when The Ruler started messing with Sarah. This must have shocked them both that God showed up just at the time when they were going to get snookered, and stood up for them, and got them the ‘h’ out of there in the nick of time.

Two things stand out here for us, and must have also in the mind of Abram. First, God ignored the gutless logic (cause: Sarah is beautiful. effect: I’m dead meat. plan: save my butt) and overall buffoonery and stuck up for Abie anyway. Next, God didn’t even correct him. (Seeds thoughts are budding into something; I know not yet what). God was letting Abraham and Sarah realize their limitations, He was teaching them, as a necessary step in mankind’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. God had Abe’s back, and till this day, has never corrected him on this matter. Unbelievable!