March 29 – “Per Ardua ad Astra”

From the very beginning, it has pleased God to weave purpose into our lives.

Adam and Eve walked with God in paradise. Theirs was the monastery of fellowship with Him, in the cloister of a friendly and fruited earth. In the cool of the day, God Elohim, their Creator and Companion, would come to them.

From the beginning, they had something to talk about, because God had given them PURPOSE. Without the smallest trace of misunderstanding, without any intrusion of unwilling conjecture, without confusing majesty and dominion and inheritance and destiny with mandate, commandment, stricture, Adam and Eve shared an unblemished likeness with God.

They shared His purpose.

The enemy in the garden had once been an enemy to heaven. Like a flash of lightening, the pretender to the Throne of God was rejected. Sadly, when the same enemy came as pretender to the Dominion of Man, he was given the throne of earth.

The woman was deceived; the man chose. Adam rejected the One Who had fashioned Eve for him, the One Who saw that it was not good for the man to be alone. Oh, how well and completely did that One understand the temptation, “Hath God said . . .?”, the casting of doubt upon Divine and Unfailing Faithfulness, Comfort and PURPOSE.

Together, the man and his wife chose death, and with death came a new purpose.

The woman’s delightfulness expired along with her good pleasure, and she was given submission as an unwelcome substitute, and the man surrendered dominion in exchanged for labor and sweat upon his brow.

“Per Ardua ad Astra” is the motto of the Royal Air Force. It is the Latin expression which means, “From Adversity to the Stars.”

The Unfailing Love of their Unfailing God gave the man and his wife another and a new purpose, and that purpose will culminate in heavenly redemption for those who will, this time, believe the faithful promises of a Faithful God. As their offspring, that redemption is ours in Cor Unum. Little Sister Thèrése chose it in her monastery. The ten Boom family chose it in Nazi-controlled Haarlem. Patrick chose it when he could have remained at home, safe from the horrors of the godless tribes that had taken so much from him.

We choose a new purpose when we choose to dwell in the Presence of the Lord, to fellowship with Him in the monastery of our hearts in times of joy and of tremendous affliction. We choose the purpose of God when we let that sanctuary become a place of refuge to those who cannot see the stars but for the brightness of our faith, hope, and love in Christ Jesus, our Life.


"Starlight, Star Bright!"
photo by Kerry