Extraordinary Life

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Why do God's people, formed in His image and indwelt of His Spirit, make mistakes? Why does He let them? Does He not realize the pain that failure inflicts upon them? Could He not better reveal His glory through them by making them perfect little specimens of Him?

There's one obvious answer, that being that in creating us in His image He gave us free will, the ability to choose. Even if we choose to do what's right, we are still human. And no matter how hard they try, humans fail. Trying doesn't always mean succeeding. Resolve can vanish in a moment, and before we know it, the tears are falling over an action that looked good at the time but revealed its true and faded colors later.

So God's people fail because in all reality they can't help it. But could there be a purpose behind our failures? A greater purpose that makes even the worst mistakes turn the portrait of life into something raw and beautiful and, yes, even glorious?

Perhaps while we are yet wallowing in our fallenness, the Father is whispering to us to look higher. . . ...continue reading →

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Perhaps it's disrespectful to be sitting out here eating Jelly Bellies and contemplating life on Mary Ann McTimmond's grave. If it is, and if she would have minded in a former life, I know she doesn't mind now. She, and likely those she influenced, has been dead and buried longer than I or my parents or my grandparents have been alive.

In a sense, she doesn't matter anymore. All she's left behind her, to me who never knew her, is a mossy, faded gravestone and a story that ended too soon. She was only twenty seven when she died. Four years older than me.

I wonder if she knew she was going to die, if it was some kind of long illness that took her. I wonder if she feared death. Or perhaps she looked forward to seeing again her infant son whom she'd held and loved for only a day before he was taken from her. She was twenty five then. Two years older than me. Too young to lose a child. ...continue reading →

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. . . life is beautiful.

It's brilliant sunshine against crystal skies. It's sixty degree weather in the middle of January. It's a warm breeze and the hint of laughter in the air.

It's little boys who say funny things. . . "I'm hot. Shall I take my shirt off?" It's little boys who do funny things. . . belly laughs that are too contagious to ignore and back rubs with tractors.

It's raking old, moldy leaves and still thrilling at the newness of life. It's being with friends. It's muddy shoes and blistered hands.

It's swinging. Going twisty. Holding still. Giving underdogs to the little ones. It's sore fingers from holding onto the swing next to yours, and perhaps sore lips from the smile you can't contain.

It's joy, and it's laughter, and if all is right with your God, it's peace.

This is life. Life is beautiful.

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Life would be such a drab and dull thing without joy. Laughter would be stilled; humor would not exist; and we would wallow in despair so complete it would destroy us.

And yet. . . in a way life would be much simpler if we didn’t have to be joyful. It’s one thing when the sun is shining and our hearts are at rest. It’s quite another when life takes an unfair turn and we’re left gasping for breath at the injustice of it all. Joy is not the natural response to hard times. Anger is. Despair is. Sorrow is. But joy? Whyever joy?

How can God expect it of us?

And expect it of us He does. Rejoice evermore. . . in every thing give thanks. . . count it all joy. . . There’s no doubt what He wants from us as His children.

It looks fairly impossible from a human standpoint, this joying in all things. But joy is not something we stir up within ourselves or somehow create. Joy is a gift from God, and He loves to give good gifts to His children. Don’t try to concoct your own version of joy; just ask Him for His. Choose joy, and let Him remind you how much He loves you. No matter the trial, He has promised to never leave us, to walk with us through it, to give us as much strength as we need.

And that in itself is a reason to be joyful. He hasn’t left us alone to stagger beneath our pain; He’s right here with us. And while the laughter may be drowned in tears for a while, the joy can still be present. Joy in Him if in nothing else.

He is reason enough, and more. ...continue reading →

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God is so good. The passing of the years testifies to that. We grow, and we change, and if we abide in Him, we grow and change for the better. Life brightens and darkens; our roads wind seemingly aimlessly, but the path laid out behind us creates a portrait we never could have foreseen.

The future is no different. God’s hand paints beautiful pictures when we are surrendered to Him, and what does it matter if those pictures have their splashes of pain? It makes the painting all the more beautiful in the end. Chaos in the hands of the Father breeds peace; confusion begets trust. And every moment when given to Him can be made into something beautiful that brings Him glory. ...continue reading →