A while back, I put on a cute new shirt I received as a gift. I had to laugh because, this pretty shirt, with a large branch of sequins covering most of the shirt, only came with one little replacement sequin in the baggy attached to the tag. One, that's it! For the whole shirt!! That seemed so crazy to me that they wouldn't even give you two!
A few days later in my small group we watched a video. The video we watched talked about rain and the times of our life that are like rain. Not just the pretty rain that ends with a lovely rainbow, but the rain that pounds down, changes your plans and just plain makes you wish rain didn't exist.
That type of rain can be seen in many of our lives, at any given moment. You know those types of times. The times when you feel all alone, you just want to give in, you just want to quit or you need a break.
The video painted a picture, that for me, as a parent, was easy to understand. If one of my sons fall and hurt himself, has a bad day at school or any other multitude of things that could happen to a 4 or 6 yr old, I want to sweep them up, save the day and fix everything. But I don't always do that. Why?
Because to do so would forever change what they would and can become.
Wow.
I don't know about you, but thinking about life that way kind of makes me mad. I don't want to have to go through all that stuff! I don't want to think about the fact that I have to stick out the stupid, hard, ugly stuff to get to the beautiful stuff.
So, then I think about that one measly sequin. Really? Just one? And I think about how the reality is that I have been given the whole bunch of sequins on the shirt. They are all there ready to be enjoyed. If I were to look at what I didn't have, I'd be missing out of the beauty of what I do have.
Even better, I wore that shirt and reality happened... My cat cuddled up to me and then got startled, jumped and snagged my sequin shirt. And you guessed it, not only did one sequin rip off, but two ripped off. So amidst the beauty; the ugly, the rain. Yeah, I know it's a shirt, I know. But the point is I still want to wear it! So, I don't just give up because of one little thing. I'll wear the shirt again. Why is that?
Well I guess it's because I know... I know that rain happens. But it's not all that happens.
And to avoid it would forever change the person I could be.
A few days later in my small group we watched a video. The video we watched talked about rain and the times of our life that are like rain. Not just the pretty rain that ends with a lovely rainbow, but the rain that pounds down, changes your plans and just plain makes you wish rain didn't exist.
That type of rain can be seen in many of our lives, at any given moment. You know those types of times. The times when you feel all alone, you just want to give in, you just want to quit or you need a break.
The video painted a picture, that for me, as a parent, was easy to understand. If one of my sons fall and hurt himself, has a bad day at school or any other multitude of things that could happen to a 4 or 6 yr old, I want to sweep them up, save the day and fix everything. But I don't always do that. Why?
Because to do so would forever change what they would and can become.
Wow.
I don't know about you, but thinking about life that way kind of makes me mad. I don't want to have to go through all that stuff! I don't want to think about the fact that I have to stick out the stupid, hard, ugly stuff to get to the beautiful stuff.
So, then I think about that one measly sequin. Really? Just one? And I think about how the reality is that I have been given the whole bunch of sequins on the shirt. They are all there ready to be enjoyed. If I were to look at what I didn't have, I'd be missing out of the beauty of what I do have.
Even better, I wore that shirt and reality happened... My cat cuddled up to me and then got startled, jumped and snagged my sequin shirt. And you guessed it, not only did one sequin rip off, but two ripped off. So amidst the beauty; the ugly, the rain. Yeah, I know it's a shirt, I know. But the point is I still want to wear it! So, I don't just give up because of one little thing. I'll wear the shirt again. Why is that?
And to avoid it would forever change the person I could be.
'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.' James 1:2-4 (MSG)
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