Hope for EveryMan

I'm wondering how much like me you are. I'm just a simple wife and mother, no one very complicated. I'm not particularly brilliant, not particularly stupid. I'm not ugly, but then again, I'm also no great beauty. I don't know everything and it's hard for me to grasp many concepts (numbers... I HATE numbers!), but I'm not uneducated, either. I have my good days and my bad and sometimes I do it right - but frequently I mess up.

I have a wonderful, loving family. We are healthy and active, and we enjoy each others' company. We love to do things together, whether it's traveling to Hawaii for vacation, or sitting at home reading and watching TV. We speak to each other with respect, and we listen with courtesy, and we have time - LOTS of time! - to hug and snuggle and tickle and tease and laugh together.

We have good friends, honorable and helpful, kind and compassionate. These friends challenge and support us, they point out new things, they give us a different perspective. We eat together, laugh together, explore together, and help each other out in times of need. They are good friends, and I am truly blessed by them.

We live in a good, solid house - not too big and not too small; not the lap of luxury, but not a ramshackle hovel, either. We have enough money to put food on the table and pay the bills, plus a little left over, but we still grumble about high prices and having to pay so much in taxes.

My life is good, and I am happy and content... Mostly.

So, what's the problem?

I'm the man with all I've ever wanted
All the toys and playing games
I am the one who pours your coffee, corner booth each Saturday
I am your daughter's favorite teacher
I am the leader of the band
I sit behind you in the bleachers
I am every man

I am. I'm just one small cog in the wheel. I'm the average person on the average street in the average town. There are millions - billions! - like me all over the world. Average people living their lives, doing the best that they can at home and at work. We live our lives and never make the headlines.

We are EveryMan.

I'm the coach of every winning team and still a loser in my mind
I am the soldier in the airport facing giants one more time
I am the woman shamed and haunted by the cry of unborn life
I'm every broken man, nervous child, lonely wife

And EveryMan faces giants every day. A sick child, a downsized job, our own mortality - trials which loom too large and too terrible for us to face. Yet, we face them anyway.

We struggle with our anonymity. Our heart aches with loneliness. We grieve over mistakes that can never be unmade. We fear that we can't be good enough, we try and fail, we get back up and try again. Sometimes we feel like Sisyphus, forever rolling that boulder up the hill, only to lose our grip at the crest and watch it go tumbling back down to the bottom.

We trudge back down, wedge our shoulder against the rock, and begin again.

Is there hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
Is there hope for every man
Is there love that never dies
Is there peace in troubled times
Someone help me understand
Is there hope for every man

Is there any hope? Can our little lives have meaning? We wander in a desert, we're mired in quicksand, forever looking and longing for some firm foundation, some powerful, undying love. We yearn for something to raise us up, to lift us out of the mud of our day-to-day dreariness, something to give us new hope and new strength.

Is there hope for EveryMan?

Seems there's just so many roads to travel, it's hard to tell where they will lead
My life is scarred and my dreams unraveled
Now I'm scared to take the leap
If I could find someone to follow who knows my pain and feels the weight
The uncertainty of my tomorrow, the guilt and pain of yesterday

We can see so many possibilities, so many "paths up the mountain," and they each clamor for our attention. We don't know the future, but we long for security and assurance that it will all turn out right. We look on our lives and see some beauty among the wreckage, and then we lift our eyes and look at the world in all its terrible beauty and indifference.

We see wars and poverty, terror and brutality, oppression and callousness. We see parents beating children, we see children sold into war and brothels. We see governments so corrupt that they will not permit others to give succor to the suffering. We see vile rhetoric spewed out like vomit in the public arena - and we see it praised, while the voices of reason and caution and kindness are drowned out and scorned.

We are only EveryMan, what can we do? How can our average lives mean anything? How can we stand against the pain and guilt and fear and rage all around us? How can we find a Rock, some unyielding support, which will give us the strength and love to reach out and live in joy and peace amid all the turmoil?

Where can we find the Word of Truth, the Source of Infinite Love, the Righteous Judge, the Father who is always there to teach, nurture and protect?

Who will give hope to EveryMan?

There is hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
There is hope for every man
There is Love that never dies
There is peace in troubled times
Will we help them understand?
Jesus is hope for every man

Psalm 121:

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
         From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
         Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be moved;
         He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
         Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
         The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
         Nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
         He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
         From this time forth, and even forevermore.

There is Hope for EveryMan.

He stands at the door - the door to your soul - and knocks, and whoever will invite Him in, will have the assurance of His love, the power of His strength, the joy of His presence, and the peace of His salvation - forever.

My help comes from the Lord. He is my Hope, my Treasure, my Purpose and my Freedom.

Jesus Christ is Hope for EveryMan.

(Song is "Every Man" by Casting Crowns)

Comments

[Nicki]

1.

Very touching, Kat! :)

[Ogre]

2.

Indeed, your focus is good and right. There is only one hope for mankind and the world, and you know who it is. :)

[Cassandra]

3.

Oh Kat.

That was beautiful.

[Kat]

4.

Cassandra, I thank you for the lovely compliment - you are one of the writers on the net that I most admire, and so encouraging words from you are truly a treasure!

Indeed, Ogre - and I am so blessed and honored... and BAFFLED!!!... that He chose me to be one of His. He is indeed my true Hope and Joy...

Nicki, I am very glad that you liked this - I hope it is an encouraging word for you today!

[kender]

5.

Just wow R'Cat.....just a perfect post...

[Cao]

6.

I read this post this morning. Awesome!

You've been tagged!

You will probably come up with something awesome, considering the wonderful content of this inspirational post.

[Raven]

7.

This is a great post. I really like this...and am linking to it!

[Duncan]

8.

I love Casting Crowns. They're awesome. And I love that song. Great post.

[HomefrontSix]

9.

I love that song (both of them, actually) and I love that Psalm. And you are so very, very right.

[Denita TwoDragons]

10.

Now if this isn't a God thing, I don't know WHAT is...I have had Casting Crowns songs stuck in my head for two solid days, and then I decide to check up on you, and what do you have here? *LOL*

This is a powerfully encouraging post, Kat, and I'm going to send the link to my Hubby so he can enjoy it too. Thanks for reminding us of something far more rich and uplifting than even the best cup of coffee!

God Bless You!

--TwoDragons