It is good, sometimes, to spend a nice long afternoon with someone you cannot understand. Maybe they do not speak your language, and you are forced to mostly be quiet together. Maybe you enjoy a cold drink and only a few scattered words and shared smiles. The silent periods seem awkward. This person could also be someone from your own family, but you feel you have never learned how to speak their heart language. To go deep... past small talk into controversial subjects... to hold space for another's opinion... to just sit it out... is good.
It is normal and to be expected that toddlers will decide to get molars the same month you have a family member in the hospital. You are sure to have days when they hang onto you tight like a monkey, are whiney and refuse to play, while also refusing to actually take a nap. And then probably the whole family will also come down with colds. It is inevitable that meals cooked with love will sometimes get cold on the stove while everyone scurries around doing their modern American life business until the moon is high in the sky. Sometimes your family will misunderstand your best intentions and leave you fuming and feeling unappreciated as you pick up everyone's shoes and wash the dishes at 11 PM.
It is quite beneficial for our busy, helter-skelter minds when our phones go dead with no charger around, lay forgotten on the kitchen table, or even breakdown on a Friday afternoon. Our minds seem to drink in random internet information like a sponge, while staying weak in other areas. They lack the power to control dark thoughts or the stamina to persevere through boredom and hard tasks. Sometimes they need forced quietness to settle the clamoring voices and let us find peace.
It is altogether necessary at times to find a quiet sort of courage and faith that keeps going in spite of prayers that are not yet answered. We all have our situations. I've been struggling with the fact that since the Sunday of special prayers for Haiti, all we've heard has been bad news. A family from our congregation of Blanchard lost their down syndrome daughter unexpectedly.
The Dominican Republic has started a crazy political battle and closed off all its borders with Haiti because of a canal being dug from a shared river. Many Haitians that had moved to the DR to try and survive the chaos are walking back into Haiti, carrying backpacks and babies, and where will they all go? And how will the country survive without the supplies they get from DR?Now this morning, we got the worst news of all. A youth girl from Ganthier was kidnapped yesterday evening on her way to buy food for her family. Where do you find hope in the middle of such chaos? And is it the time for the cheerful optimistic type of outlook, or must we finally recognize that some situations are to be quietly endured, and that God is there and the end result is inner fortitude and strength that cannot be snatched away by any old gangster?
He who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep,
pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart.
And in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom to us
by the awful grace of God.
-Aeschylus
Tonight, my fellow humans, who were raised with the modern illusion that creating an easy, comfortable life is within your control, I wish you courage for the wisdom that comes by suffering.
We are a generation of very reluctant sufferers. But the pain is sure to come. Drop by drop. And with it will come the wisdom.
❤️ Brings to mind Corrie Ten Booms story and God's faithfulness through all the suffering.
In everything give thanks... I used to wonder how that would be possible, but suddenly it all became clear what was meant by that verse. It's not saying that I have to be thankful FOR everything that life dishes out, but while I'm in the chaos and turmoil and sadness of life, I am to be thankful for Jesus, for the salvation plan, for a perfect destination that is not of this chaotic world. Thankful that I have a God to turn to. Thankful that Beti has a Comforter and an assurance of Heaven. That I can do!
I love it when I can find just the right words to explain something, but words fail me lately. You wrote that very well!!
Here's a some thoughts I have been dwelling on lately:
God never told us our life would be easy. He didn't send Jesus to earth take way all the pain and suffering. But He experienced it himself, and He says, "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:20
"God is good when your heart hurts;
When the questions are heavy;
When you don't understand;
When the answer feels like it's never going to come.
His goodness is not based on your circumstances, but on the unchanging character of…
When I heard about the DR shutting borders I wanted to feel panic inside of myself for those people. Last evening when I heard of the missing girl I wondered again how they could go on in the face of one thing after another. I have to keep reminding myself that God doesn’t always stop the evil but allows bad situations to continue so we can see his awesome power when he intervenes but sometimes it seems like he might not be looking Or will come to late. We know and thats not the truth but it’s hard to see beyond the pain and keep persevering. My prayers go up daily for all involved. It feels like so little ye…
That is quite the saying, esp for those of us that live in a microwave world and want everything NOW or even yesterday… I think that you, my dear cousin, are the one needing courage! I know that Haiti is close to your heart and ZèZè’s heart and the news from there must be so hard to hear. May God give you courage to get through your busy days with ZèZè’s family that has joined you and manage your own home as well.