The Prison of Being

Thomas Wolfe wrote:

"He understood that men are forever strangers to one another,
that no one ever comes really to know anyone,

that imprisoned in the dark womb of our mother
we come to life without having seen her face,

that we are given to her arms a stranger,
and that caught in the insoluble prison of being,

we escape it never, no matter what arms may clasp us,
what mouth may kiss us,
what heart may warm us,
never, never, never, never, never."

Good observation Tom. Only not quite true.
It’s not quite never.

We do escape it when the arms that embrace
and are revealed to us
are the arms of the Everlasting Father-
when we come into fellowship with the Eternal Father.

We do escape when we kiss the Son
and find his kiss better than wine
and we find the anger is turned away
that binds us to such bleak visage that you proclaim

Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish out of the way.
Psalm 2.12

Yes, we do find release when the heart that warms us
is the heart of the everlasting almighty God who is a consuming fire.

Yes Thomas, your vision of humanity's struggle is accurate
for we are all prisoners.
And we remain prisoners-either in the kingdom of darkness
in which you are obviously held

Or, in the kingdom of God's dear Son
where our captivity is taken captive
and where we willingly remain
slaves to his love-
bondslaves to the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We are no longer stranger but have been made partakers
of the inheritance of the family of God.