Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people who sleep late, one of those who miss early morning rain storms and wake not even knowing they happened. I’m not, though. I’m an early riser, a wonderer, and a ‘thinker.’
This morning I woke thinking about Joan of Arc. A week or so ago, George and I watched a movie about her life. It was incredible, but it’s true. An eighteen year old girl leads an army and defeats a world.
There have been thousands of books on Joan and many movies. All of them stir questions. Why would God want to save France? How could an eighteen year old lead an army, defeat a world power and crown a king in a matter of six months?
How could she face the awful entourage of Bishop Cauchon– who was professor and a pompous academic as well as a Bishop– and still trust in God and her visions? Here we have a so-called great man of the Church against an illiterate girl. Could he have been envious that she’d had a revelation that he didn’t have?
Who were the voices she was talking to? Can there really be communication between the spiritual world and the physical world? But if we believe in a spiritual world co-existing with the visible one, how can we say that spirits have no means of communicating with us?
Joan of Arc teaches us quite a bit in her short life, exemplified by total Trust, and encompassed by her words: “Act and God will act, work and He will work.”
In the past, in the present, and on into the future, God has used, uses now, and will continue to use many means, and many people, to influence and direct human affairs in this world that He created.
Why would I ever want to sleep through that?
Translating a World on the Edge 