"But It's Just Not Fair"

Driving home tonight, my overly tired 8 year old had a meltdown with an over riding theme: "It's just not fair!"  As I sat and tried to reassure him and make him feel better, I realized something.

Over the last week and a half the over riding theme in my head has been: "It's just not fair!"  My mom suffered a pretty serious injury just over a week and a half ago.  She's had 4 surgeries and countless tests in the last week and a half.  Just a month before, she had another injury that required an outpatient surgery.  And over the last few years, she's battled various health issues.  All the while, she's stayed strong in her faith, witnessed to others, served faithfully and helped anyone she could.  Through it all, I would venture to say that very few people have known the battles she's faced.

So over the last week and a half I've felt myself so many times thinking, "It's just not fair!"  I've said it out loud a few times, too.  Why does someone who faithfully serves God and serves others endure so much? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do those who stay happily lukewarm appear to get off so easy? It's just not fair!


As I've battled that thought, especially over the last week and a half, God has reminded me countless times that He never promised the road would be easy, He promised he'd get us through.  He never promised less "bad", He actually tells us that it will probably be harder.  The words of James, while they don't make me like these situations more, give me great perspective and peace:

James 1:2-6 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.  If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought.

When you face those things that aren't "fair", those things that make you question why, those things that push you to your limits, take James's advice.  Cling to the promise that the Father loves to help.  And trust that when this life is done, the reward that waits for the battles waged here will far outweigh the pain of this life.

Welcome Home

This is a week of welcome home's for a few people in my life.  Some pretty special welcome homes!  Yesterday a friend from high school welcomed a precious baby girl into the world.  Tonight a friend from church welcomes her husband home from his time of service in Afghanistan.  And later this week a life-long friend welcomes home her husband (who also happens to be a life-long friend) from his lengthy deployment in Iraq.

As I've seen the joy, the anticipation, the planning that surrounds these homecomings, I feel like God is giving me a tiny glimpse of what He feels like when one of us returns "home".  I've heard most of my life that when someone commits his or her life to Christ for the first time that there is rejoicing in heaven.  And I fully believe that.  A royal celebration takes place up there any time a new soul is redeemed.  A celebration that's come with plenty of anticipation.  A welcome home that is eagerly awaited, like a new parent waits to bring their newborn home.  All of this planning for someone we've never met.  But so worth it because that baby is being welcomed into the family in a big way!

This welcome home that my girlfriends have been planning for their husbands is a little different.  It's a welcome home for someone who was with them, but then left.  There's a different anticipation with that welcome home.  You know who & what you've been missing.  Like when the prodigal son's father heard he was returning.  The celebration for his return was nothing like people in that area had ever seen.

Do you have a welcome home in your future? Maybe you've never come to know who God really is and experience the power of a life lived in Him.  Maybe you've known God and lived the fullness of that life in your past, but your the prodigal right now.  Either way, there is a royal celebration being planned on the other side of heaven at the anticipation of your "welcome home".  Picture the welcome home signs, the friends & family that have gone before and a spread of all of your favorite things.  That's what will happen in heaven upon your welcome home.  And God is there waiting, with arms wide open.

In the mean time, welcome to the world sweet Atlee.  You were born into a pretty spectacular family.  Welcome home Gerald!  Hawaii isn't a bad stop after that big sand box!  And Ben, so proud of you!  So happy Jess & Avery get you back!

Instant

We live in a society where instant is the norm.  We want instant, on demand.  No waiting.  No time to think about it.  Now.  INSTANT.  It's a good thing, right?

But then, in an "instant", an accident happens and your child's life is hanging in the balance.  In an "instant" a doctor gives a prognosis that rattles you to the core.  In an "instant"a job is lost.  In an "instant" a life is lost.  And then suddenly we'd give anything for more time, for things to move slowly.  To have that "instant" back.

In an "instant", all of those things that we were too busy for before are the things that we wish we had done.  All the words we forgot to say are the only words that come to mind.  Everything that we always planned to be as a person, a parent, a friend, but didn't make time for comes flooding in...in an "instant".  And time is all we want.  Time to fix it.  Time to say what we always meant to say.  Time to spend more time.

I have to admit that there have been times that, as my heart hurt and even grieved for something a friend was facing and going through, I've been grateful to have a reminder to be more present.  Be the person I want to be.

But wouldn't it be an amazing thing if we didn't need those reminders? If we just lived our lives, daily, in a way that when the "instant" comes for us, we're not looking back.  We're present.  And looking forward.

God, help us to live in this moment.  Help us to live fully invested in every moment you bless us with.  Help us to remember to say the things we should say, do the things we should do.  Let every day that we have with those that we love be fully lived.  And when an "instant" comes, sustain us.  Cover us in peace.  Consume us in love.  And remind us that You are always fully invested in our "instant".